THE
PROLIFERATION of preachers today is welcomed by many as a positive development
for man and society as a whole. In this day and age when criminality seems to
be on an upward swing and social order is disrupted by various troubles many
think that the abundance of religious teachers would greatly help humanity.
However, if one were to consult the Bible, he would realize that having a great
number and wide selection of “Bible teachers” is not at all beneficial to
mankind’s collective well-being. The apostles themselves prove that not all
preachers will lead people to eternal life; in fact, many of them will lead
people to destruction:
“And many false religious teachers
will come. They will fool many people and will turn them to the wrong way”
(Matt. 24:11, New Life Version).
False
religious teachers lead people astray or away from the true faith. This is the
evil result of just receiving any preacher or believing that all preachers,
just because they are holding a Bible, are authentic. If one is deceived, then
his own salvation is in jeopardy (II Thess. 2:10, Today’s English
Version).
Deception,
in its various forms carried out by even the most innocent-looking people,
remains an act to trick or mislead someone. This is also true with those who
come under the guise of preachers of God’s words but in reality are
counterfeit. Our Lord Jesus warns us:
“Be on your guard against false
prophets; they come to you looking like sheep on the outside, but on the inside
the).y are really like wild wolves” (Matt. 7:15, Ibid.).
With
so many sham preachers dotting “Christendom” today, to whom then should people
listen and consult so as not to be tricked by this mask of deception? The Lord
God stated through the prophet Malachi: “It is the duty of priests to teach the
true knowledge of God. People should go to them to learn my will, because they
are the messengers of the Lord Almighty” (Mal. 2:7, Ibid.).
Since
ancient times to the Christian era, the Lord God has sent messengers to preach
and reveal His truth. How important is it to listen to and accept the Gospel
preached by the messengers of God? Our Lord Jesus Christ declared when He
called Paul, a true messenger of God, to be His apostle:
“I will deliver you from
the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I
now send you, to open their eyes, in order to
turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of
Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance
among those who are sanctified by faith in Me” (Acts 26:17-18, New King
James Version).
By
receiving the messenger, those who in the past were blinded by the
deceitfulness and trickery of Satan through false preachers would have their
eyes opened to the truth, so that they may be ushered from darkness into the
light, be forgiven of their sins, and ultimately, inherit salvation. Hence, the
importance of God’s messenger can never be overstated, for it is equivalent to
accepting our Lord Jesus and our God Almighty (John 13:20). Consequently, by
refusing to hear the one sent by God, one inadvertently rejects Christ and the
Father (Luke 10:16).
Identifying the one sent by God
With
the emergence of a vast number or preachers who claim to be sent by God in our
time, how can we identify the true and legitimate messengers of God? Prophet
Isaiah, said:
“To the law and to the testimony! If
they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn” (Isa.
8:20, New International Version).
The
law refers to the commandments of God. The testimony, meanwhile, is the spirit
of prophecy (Rev. 19:10) or the biblical evidence of one’s being elected and
sent by God. Thus, even though many may claim to be teachers of the laws of God
but cannot show biblical proof of their right to preach, the Holy Scriptures
say—“they have no light of dawn.”
The
standard presented by the Bible itself is not met by many self-confessed
preachers of God’s words. In order not to be duped and misled, let us listen to
and abide by the true gospel as taught by those who do have the “law and
testimony.”
The
Mask of Deception
by
Siegfred T. Gollayan
Published
in GOD'S MESSAGE
January
2014
p.40
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