Three Spirits of Deception Infiltrating the Church

Scripture Ref. Jude 1:3-4 (KJV) - 2 Peter 2:1-2 (NKJV)
³ Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. ⁴  For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 2:1-2 (NKJV)
¹ But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. ² And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.

Introduction

We are in a spiritual battle fighting against principalities, powers, and spiritual wickedness not only in government and society but also the body of Christ, and it is highly damaging to the church to the effect that it is reshaping the whole scope of the way we worship, live, and evangelize! Over the past few years there has been a gradual infiltration of enemy forces within the church ranks bringing in modernistic trends which have blinded the eyes of many church folks by the highly sophisticated spiritual weaponry that is used to fight, not just against, but in the church today.

On the Day of Pentecost the Holy Ghost demonstrably transformed the lives of those in the upper room, amazed the nations, convicted, convinced, and converted the lives of over 3000 souls ushering in a new era and entity known as the church and the church age, this was literally the dawn of a new dispensation. The church literally began in a blaze of Glory. I don’t believe God ever intended for the church to be ushered in with power and glory and authority only to decline to an empty, lifeless, ritualistic practice to co-exist with the world and religious crowd instead of transforming everything it comes in contact with in the world!

God’s purpose for the church from the beginning was and still is to be the Ekklesia, a people called out of the world that through the power of the Holy Ghost would ignite a revival in the world, awakening the conscience of those that are blinded by sin to the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, leading many sons and daughters into glory, transforming everything it comes in contact with, and being the lights of the world leading lost souls out of darkness into the marvelous light of Jesus Christ. However, the church is failing in its purpose because we have become complacent settling for mediocrity by not desiring to maintain a spirit of excellence in everything we do for the Lord and in the church!

 Just look around Mediocrity says it’s o.k. to come to church 15 to 30 minutes after service has started instead of arriving 15 to 30 minutes ahead of time to pray and seek God for his will in the service. Mediocrity says it’s o.k. if I don’t go Sunday night or mid-week bible study, I’m tired and I won’t be missed anyway. Mediocrity says its o.k. if I don’t fulfill my position someone else will do it and if not the job is not that important anyway. Mediocrity says Sunday school isn’t for me 10am is way too early in the morning. And so it goes on and on with those who really don’t mind if the church never grows at all. We’ll survive, we always have!

What is the problem or the issue some might ask? The issue is a deadly pattern that many churches in this day have fallen in. The problem is that when you don’t strive for excellence in your service and relationship for God, your enthusiasm will eventually dwindle, no excitement, fire, and zeal for the house of God! The pattern is all too real, churches that have lost their zeal will sooner or later open its door to the first spirit of deception we are talking about this evening.

The Spirit of Accommodation

2 Corinthians 11:2-4 (NKJV)
² For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. ³ But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. ⁴  For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted--you may well put up with it!

There are churches out there that will accommodate anything you want to do because they are more concerned about getting along and not rocking the boat than they are about your soul. Jesus loves you just the way you are, so if you want to be a homosexual and believe that you are on your way to heaven there are churches out there that will say homosexuals’ is only an alternative lifestyle and God is too just of a God to send you to hell because you fell in love with a member of the same sex. Come join us we will accommodate you!

Preachers are preaching messages of accommodation just so their churches can be full. We have churches throwing hip-hop parties playing snoop-dogg and 50 cents talking about we are getting the young people, but they are blinded by the spirit of accommodation.

They say come as you are God will accept you the way you are, and that is true but what they fail to do is tell them you can’t stay that way you must change because it’s holiness or hell. We got teenage boys coming in the church with their pants hanging down to their ankles and we say that’s alright just come and that’s good to get them in the church, but once they have been in a while and sound doctrine has been placed down in them it’s time to tell them that God wants excellence both on the inside and outside so pull up those pants, ladies button up that blouse. We need to have the spirit of excellence and not the spirit of accommodation!

The Spirit of Assimilation

Romans 12:2 (KJV)
² And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The word “assimilate” a change in a sound or action so it becomes identical with or similar to something or someone else’s sounds and actions. Oftentimes in these last days of the church it is so hard to tell the difference from the church and the world. The church sounds like the world, looks like the world, acts like the world, and the results of this is they have become ineffective in the world because they are infected by the world because of the spirit of assimilation. The church needs to stop trying to be like other churches and be more like Christ!

The Spirit of Association

Ephesians 5:6-12 (NKJV)
⁶ Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. ⁷ Therefore do not be partakers with them. ⁸ For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light ⁹ (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), ¹⁰ finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. ¹¹ And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. ¹² For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.

There is a dangerous trend going on in many modernistic churches. In a so-called effort to reach the un-churched they are meeting with them on their ground and partaking of their deeds to supposedly when them over. But what are you winning them to? That’s my question! I heard a pastor on TV not long ago speak of sitting down drinking a cold one with a groups of friends to win some confidence. What? Or the one at the tattoo parlor getting marked up so he could enter a certain part of town to minister the love of Christ. You’re kidding me, right?

Seven Facts Concerning Scripture

The word "Bible" is not found in the Bible. The word simply means "The Book," so "there was a time," as Trench says, "when bible might be applied to any book," but in our present use of the word we use it in a restricted sense of the one Book. The Imperial Dictionary says: "The Bible is the Sacred Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as received by the Christian Church as a Divine Revelation."

The Following was taken from: 1000 Bible Study Outlines: Study Helps and Sermon Outlines.

1. What is It? They claim to be "inspired of God" (2 Tim. 3:16, 17). The word "inspired of God" is Theopneustos. Theos is the word for God, and the other part is a presumed derivation of pneo, which means to breathe. It is rendered "bloweth" in John 3:8, and "wind" in Acts 27:40. Thus the word means to divinely breathe in. Some would render the sentence, "The Scriptures are the Divine breathing." Our English word "inspired" only occurs in one other place, and that is Job 32:8—"There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding." As God breathed into man the breath of life, and he became a living soul, so God has breathed this Book, and it breathes out what He has breathed in. It breathes life into the spirit, love into the soul, understanding into the mind, determination into the will, grace into the heart, beauty into the life, and harmony into the being.

2. Who Inspired It? "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:21). The Holy Spirit is the Author and the Interpreter of the Book. The "men" who were "moved" were men, human beings; but they were not the common herd of men, they were "men of God," and not only so, they were "holy men of God." These men were in fellowship with God. "Holy men" and "the Holy Spirit" needed to be in touch with each other to produce holy results. The word "moved" means to be "borne along," and is used of a ship being "driven" by the wind—Acts 27:17, of a man being "brought" on a bed—Luke 5:18, and of one who is carrying another— John 21:18. This at once makes the Bible different from all other books.

3. Who Were the Instruments Used? "The prophets" (1 Peter 1:10). We naturally think of a prophet as one through whom events are forecast; but the primary meaning is a seer, that is, one who sees. "A prophet," as one has said, is—

"One who speaks forth openly before anyone, a proclaimer of a Divine message; among the heathen, the interpreter of the oracles. In the Septuagint, it is the translation of the earlier 'seer,' showing what really constituted the prophet, was immediate intercourse with God. The usage of the word is clear, it signifies one on whom the Spirit of God rested—Num. 11:17, 25, 26, 29; one to whom and through whom God speaks—Num. 7:2; one to whom God makes known His mysteries—Amos 3:7, 8; hence it means one to whom God reveals His truth, and through whom He speaks.... In the Old Testament prophets, their preaching was a prophesying of a salvation and purposes of grace and glory yet to be accomplished; while in the New Testament prophets, their prophesying was a preaching of those purposes of grace already accomplished, and also a foretelling of the purposes of glory which were still future."

4. What was the Purpose of the Bible's Revelation? Christ Himself answers the question, for He says of the Scriptures: "They are they which testify of Me" (John 5:39). He is light in the lantern, to show the way; He is the life in the tree, to make it grow; He is the kernel in the nut, to make it worth; He is the glory in the temple, to make it beautiful; He is the heart in the body, to cause it to live; He is the spring in the watch, to make it to go; and He is the power in the wire, to electrify the machine.

The Old Testament characters in the Bible are types of Him. He is the Last Adam, to quicken; the offering Able, to sacrifice; the faithful Abram, to separate; the peaceful Isaac, to substitute; the working Jacob, to secure; the providing Joseph, to store; the leading Moses, to guide; the priestly Aaron, to represent; the valiant Joshua, to subdue; the strong David, to conquer; the wise Solomon, to teach; and the Kinsman-Redeemer, to redeem.

The offerings were all foregleams. He is the Passover, to protect; the Burnt-offering, to please; the Sin-offering, to be judged; the Trespass-offering, to release; the Peace-offering, to reconcile; the Drink-offering to rejoice; and the Red Heifer-offering, to cleanse.

All Scripture contains in Him, and He is the contain of all Scripture.

5. What are the Two Fundamental Themes of the Bible? Christ Himself answered the question to the two disciples as He journeyed with them to Emmaus, and to the eleven gathered in the upper room—Luke 24:27, 36.

The sufferings and glory of Christ are the couplings of God, which couple up everything. Calvary and Olivet are His viewpoints. The Cross and the Crown are the Alpha and Omega of Revelation. The Lamb and the Throne are the fulcrum and lever of God's purpose. The Passover and the Lamb are His starting point and goal; and the Altar and the Skekinah are the Genesis and Revelation of everything.

6. What the Bible Imparts? Among the many things to which it is compared is seed—1 Peter 1:23. There are two things which are characteristic of seed. It contains life, and produces like to its kind. Faith in the Living Word comes by means of the Written Word; and when the Living Word, by means of the Written, operates in a living soul, the character of the Word is reproduced. It is a Holy Word, to sanctify; a Righteous Word, to rectify; a Living Word, to fructify; a Wise Word, to edify; a Peace Word, to pacify; a Powerful Word, to electrify; and a Loving Word, to intensify.

7. What the Bible Does? This raises another question: "What does it not do?" One has tersely said of the Bible in a general way: "Every hour I read you, it kills a sin, or lets a virtue in to fight against it."

Many are the things the Bible does; the following will illustrate a few of the things:

Acquaints us with the theme of the Gospel—1 Cor. 15:3, 4. Blesses us as we obey its precepts—Psa. 119:2. Consecrates us as we follow its injunctions—Num. 6:1-7. Defeats the enemy as we use it against him—Matt. 4:4, 7, 10. Edifies the life as we heed it—Acts 20:32. Fires the heart to a faithful testimony—Jer. 1:1; 23:29. Guides those who follow its light—Psa. 119:105.