A Daring Departure

“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; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.”  I Timothy 4:1 

Are we there yet?  It sure seems like it.  Paul had just written about the mystery of godliness, the unexplainable truth of how a person can go from a sinner to a saint through Christ.  Now he changes the subject to the “mystery of iniquity”, which phrase he had coined in II Thessalonians 2:7.  What is the difference, if any, of sin, iniquity, and transgressions?  A simple answer, as it seems to me, that sin is violating God’s standard of living as set forth in scripture, or as some say, “missing the mark”.  Transgression is the breaking of specific laws that were given by God.  Iniquity is committing any act that is evil or wicked.  Whether it is sin, iniquity, or transgression, it is all against God.

In this passage, Paul addressed iniquity among members of the church.  His warning came directly from the Holy Spirit, a clear message which concerned some of the things which would occur during the latter days in which we are now present, the age of grace, so called because God is extending His grace to allow men and women to repent and turn to Christ for forgiveness and salvation.  The age of grace is the sixth age or dispensation, a time when man is tested as to his obedience to whatever God has revealed to him during that time.  The seventh and last dispensation is the Kingdom of Christ as He reigns for 1,000 years on earth.

It is during the “latter times”, the age of grace, that, as God’s Spirit foretold to Paul, some people in the churches of Christ would “depart from the faith”, that is, turn their backs on what they had claimed to believe about Christ and the gospel and would begin listening to the words of Satan who seduces people who are not grounded firmly in the faith of God, of Christ, and of God’s word.  Satan’s doctrine is one of deception.  He mixes a tiny bit of truth with a huge amount of lies which can win over many who are not truly in possession of the Holy Spirit, our spiritual bodyguard who keeps us from the devil’s schemes and traps.

One of the iniquities committed by those in the church at Ephesus who were trapped in Satan’s web were lies told to try and convince others to come over to their way of thinking.  When something sounds too good to be true, it may not be, so be careful.  These liars professed to be followers of Christ, but they were working against Him.  How could they do this?  Paul said that their consciences were seared with a hot iron.  The medical profession uses cauterization, burning, to seal up a wound.

What causes a person to have his or her conscience sealed shut so that they can’t discern between right and wrong and not feel any guilt?  Everyone is born with a conscience, the God-given ability to know right from wrong.  However, a constant violation of ignoring right in favor of wrong eventually leads to feeling less guilt when doing wrong.  The longer that ignoring of the conscience goes on, there will come a time when the conscience no longer operates, and the person become nothing more than a slave to sin without feeling guilty.  In Romans 1:18-32, Paul explained how one can be turned over to a reprobate mind, not knowing right from wrong, when he or she dismisses God as nothing and worships self.  Thus, we can see the irreparable damage that those with a seared conscience can do upon a church and upon the community at large.

These folks who had departed from the truth were also forbidding people to marry.  If they were believers in Gnosticism, they maintained that the physical world was evil and only the spiritual world was acceptable.  Because marriage and sexuality were of the physical world, they forbid marriage.  They also forbid eating meat for likely the same reason.  Apparently, they believed that it was wrong to enjoy anything in life.  But that was not God’s intention.  He told Peter in Acts 10:9-16 that what He had cleansed was permissible to eat but must be received with thanksgiving.  God has given us such a variety of foods to enjoy, but some of us have enjoyed them just a little too much, if you know what I mean!  Moderation and thankfulness is the key.

If we project what these mixed-up folks were doing and saying in Ephesus to today, we can see similar ideas, notions, and behavior that has become rather prevalent among people of today.  There is plenty of false doctrine being taught, even in churches.  It is difficult to find a church where the pure, unadulterated truth of God’s word is the focus of the mission of the church.  I guess that is why we have so many denominations.  Some differences are petty, but other differences are like night and day.  We have been reading about some of the most ungodly things that are being brought into the church.  In secular society, there seems to be an awful lot of people who have been given over to reprobate minds because of some of the ideas, actions, and policies being broadcast across the world.  It seems, though, that some folks are beginning to wake up to all of this insanity.

I am not aware of anyone forbidding marriage, but there sure are a lot of people who have decided not to marry but just live together.  Vegetarians have always been against eating meat, but now the environmentalists want everyone to stop eating meat and eliminate cows because they produce methane.  How many people actually bow their heads and thank God for their food?  The climate change religion has deceived many people.  God made man to worship something greater than himself, with the intention to worship Him, but when people don’t want to worship God, they will find something else to worship.  However, climate change, Satan, money, fame, or politics can never save a person from the wrath of God or from accountability to Him.  When people depart from the truth or when they refuse the truth, they are jeopardizing their own eternity.  If we had prophets like the ones of the Old Testament to carry warnings across the globe, would folks listen?  They didn’t listen then, and I doubt they will listen now.