1 TIMOTHY 4 Prophetic Forewarning, the Value of Sound Doctrine & Encouragement to Persevere vv. 1-5 CONDITIONS IN THE CHURCH IN THE LATTER TIMES [1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; 5 for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. ] After having given Timothy a description of the qualifications for pastors/overseers/bishops and deacons to promote the spiritual health and growth of the Church; he turns his attention to the future conditions of the Church. Why is this important? Because the Holy Spirit expressly communicates this truth; meaning He speaks clearly and often about this subject. Note that Paul talks about this again in his second letter to Timothy { 2 Tim. 3:1-13 } so it is an extremely important subject for every believer to consider and take seriously. Paul uses a noteworthy term for this period of time—‘in latter times ’. The Greek word for ‘times ’ here means a ‘ set or measured time ’; in other words, at an appropriate time . This is important to note because Paul could have used another word for ‘time’, [‘ chronos ’], which refers to an unspecified period or season of time. Thus, Paul is alerting us to a time has when these things are taking place. If one does a word search for ‘ latter times ; ‘ latter days ’ one can determine that this phrase describes the period of time from Christ’s 1 st Coming to His 2 nd Coming for the Church [i.e., the Rapture] before the 1 DAY OF THE LORD begins. See for example 2 Tim.3:1-5; 1 Pet. 1:20; 2 Pet. 3:3; Jude 1:17-19 . There is coming a time that some; in the church, will ‘ depart from the faith ’, and we have already seen Paul deal with this issue in the first chapter of this letter { vv.3-7, 18-20 }. The word that is used here is [‘apohistemi ’]2 and it is very descriptive of what Paul is referring to. It is a compound Greek word; <‘apo ’ + ‘ histemi ’>, or <‘apart from’ + ‘stand’> and literally means to ‘ stand apart from ’. To stand away from what? The context gives the answer; to STAND AWAY FROM THE FAITH and to STAND AWAY FROM THE TRUTH . This is a serious condition and always spiritually fatal to a church! Paul then identifies six characteristics to explain what it means for someone to ‘ depart from the faith ’. 1 The ‘DAY OF THE LORD’ refers to the time period of the 7-year Tribulation Period and includes the Millennium [1000-year] Period of Christ Jesus’ reign on earth. 2 Another, similar Greek word [‘ apostasia ’] is used in 2 Thess. 2:4 from which we get our English word “apostasy”. 1 1 Timothy Chapter 4 Klaus G. Schiessel © March 2013 [giving heed to deceiving spirits ] This has to do with being susceptible to the deceit of lying spirits [i.e., demons] and giving credence to the deception and lies they promote. This is only the beginning of apostasy. The word translated ‘ deceiving ’ can also mean ‘ seducing ’ or ‘distracting ’. Please refer to the Appendix, which gives a book review and critique of The Shack . This is an insightful contemporary example of giving heed to deceiving spirits and at the same time represents a sad commentary on the poor spiritual health and lack of Biblical knowledge of many Christians. Here is what J. Vernon McGee says in his commentary on Mal. 1:13 : “Going to church is just as boring to a great many people. This is the reason we so often hear it asked, ‘What can we do to interest our people in the church?’ Have you ever heard that discussed? Or, ‘What can we do to get people to come on Sunday nights?’ Someone will suggest, ‘Let’s serve a dinner. Let’s have a banquet. Or let’s have a little different service. Instead of all this boring Bible study, let’s have some special music and let’s put on an entertaining program. We could have some sort of pageant’.” “What is wrong, my friend, when people are saying that God is becoming boring to them? Why do you think that men ever adopted a ritual to begin with? Why do they wear robes and chant and burn incense and march around? They are tired of spiritual worship—that’s it—and they need something to tickle the flesh”. One of the greatest threats and also driver of demonic doctrines is occurring through the Emergent Church Movement. Roger Oakland in his book, Faith Undone , says that "…….sanctuaries are being darkened, prayer stations with candles, incense, and icons are being set up to "engage all the senses" according to Mark Driscoll of the Mars Hill Fellowship. (p.65). There is a chapter in Dan Kimball's book, The Emerging Church called "Creating A Sacred Space For Vintage Worship". He says that " in the emerging culture darkness represents spirituality ...darkness communicates that something serious is about to happen, we are merely going back to a form of worship that has been around as long as the church has been in existence" (pp. 136, and 169). Oakland refutes this, of course, saying that "early Christians did not need the darkness to make them feel more "spiritual, and, if ever they were in darkness it was to avoid getting arrested by meeting in secret" (p.67) Some evangelical churches have embraced ‘Tenebrae’ [Latin for ‘shadows’ or ‘darkness’] or ‘Taize’ practices as part of their worship services. These worship services prominently involve the use of candles, silence and darkness which all have a deeply Roman Catholic association. The only things that have been missing are chanting and burning of incense. I know many Christians who were Roman Catholic [my wife is one of them] who have come into the light of Jesus Christ and the assurance of their salvation because, as practicing Roman Catholics, there was always a deep fear of dying, of not having the priest’s blessing and going to Hell or, at best, Purgatory for a given number of years until their souls were “purified” of their sins [which they now know that Jesus already paid for!]. These rituals are meant to promote the spirit of ecumenism —the belief that underneath all our doctrinal differences we’re really all the same, we should downplay our doctrinal issues and should hold our hands and sing ‘Kum-ba-ya”. 2 1 Timothy Chapter 4 Klaus G. Schiessel © March 2013 On the other hand, God’s Word teaches that “ we were called out of the darkness into His wonderful light ”; { 1 Peter 2:9 } and we “ are children of the day, we are not of the night nor of darkness ” { 1Thess. 5:5 }. Darkness conveys Satan’s kind of ‘spirituality’. It is my conviction that because we are of the True Light our worship should reflect exactly that, and that the attraction to ‘dark’ themes that has infiltrated evangelical Protestant churches in recent years is a result of ‘ giving heed to seducing spirits ’. [giving heed to doctrines of demons ] After giving heed to the perverted and deceptive understanding of the scriptures, which are proactively promoted by deceiving spirits, apostasy degenerates to promoting demonic doctrines . Satan is the chief demon and Jesus tells he was a liar from the beginning and a deceiver {ref. John 8:44; Matt. 16:21-23; Rev. 12:9 }. The Urantia Book [originally published in 1934] is supposedly written by aliens communicating to man through psychic contact via “automatic handwriting 3”. Although I will not go into detail, suffice it to say that alien and UFO manifestations are markedly similar to demonic manifestations. Most of the Urantia Book is preoccupied with disclaiming and misrepresenting the tenets and doctrines of the Bible and thereby confusing theological truths. In this book the aliens, i.e., the demons, teach that (a) Satan does not exist, (b) there is no literal heaven and hell, (c) sin is a choice so by choosing not to sin a person can be saved—salvation by works. All of these teachings are ‘ doctrines of demons ’. Additionally, two-thirds of the book attempts to discredit and downplay the Biblical claims of Jesus Christ, including His deity. I mention this book only because it is the ‘tip of the iceberg’ as far as doctrines of demons goes but also because it has a connection to the same kind of demonic deception that has infiltrated many churches. Now we have supposed evangelical pastors like Rob Bell 4 who write books like Love Wins in which one of the things he claims is that Hell is not a real place but is to be taken metaphorically because a truly loving God would never send anyone there. One reviewer 5 summarizes the major theme of this book in the opening paragraph of his comprehensive review: “Love Wins , by mega-church pastor Rob Bell, is, as the subtitle suggests, “a book about heaven, hell, and the fate of every person who ever lived.” Here’s the gist: Hell is what we create for ourselves when we reject God’s love. Hell is both a present reality for those who resist God and a future reality for those who die unready for God’s love.