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1 Timothy 4:1a
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1 Now [de] the Spirit [pneuma] speaketh [lego] expressly, [rhetos] that [hoti] in [en] the latter [husteros] times [kairos] some [tis] shall depart from [aphistemi] the faith, [pistis] giving heed [prosecho] to seducing [planos] spirits, [pneuma] and [kai] doctrines [didaskalia] of devils; [daimonion] KJV-Interlinear
4 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, NASB
In chapter one, Paul dealt with the many false teachers that would come along to distort true teaching, and cause people to fall away, or to be deceived away from doctrine.
Without exception, all false teaching is self centered and desires only to serve the ego of the false teacher, at the expense of the student or hearer of their message.
False teaching is the epitome of evil.
And although we might think of false teaching as coming only from organized sources, in fact most false teaching comes from individuals who may mean well, but tend to promote their one word or one phrase, or their concept view of the world and of God, in such a way that it results in distracting people away from their first obligation, which is to study and learn and grow up in a systematic learning environment, and not be distracted away by gimmick or emotion driven agendas.
Paul countered the false teachers by laying out the very basics of Christian behavior and expectations, even as to the respective roles of the man and woman in Christ, in their simplest form, as well as the expectations of the fundamental Christian requirements for leadership and service, which applies to us all in one form or another.
And though we have seen in the last two chapters that these requirements are extremely simple, and that even the most inept person can understand them, there will always exist those who will unfortunately number as the vast majority of those who will reject these basic principles.
Principles and guidelines that are not intended to cause anyone to become less than anyone else, or greater than anyone else, but to aid in bringing everyone to spiritual maturity and the winner circle of champions for all of eternity, and the most phenomenal life beyond imagination.
Gods objective for your life is not your humiliation, but your completion to the maximum. God simply gives us all the framework of this life, within which we can grow to our fullest potential. In the next life, all of this framework (no male, no female, no jew, no gentile, stereotypes, etc. etc.), goes away.
And so Paul continues in this chapter to describe that apostasy will abound, even in the end times, which we in our dispensation, identify ourselves.
From the date of the beginning of our dispensation, at the Feast of Pentecost, which occurred fifty days following the Crucifixion, at the Feast of Passover, until now, our dispensation, which we call the Church Age, has been functioning as the end times.
During our dispensation we have seen knowledge increase, first in the completion of the Bible in the few decades following the Cross and completed in 96 A.D., when John wrote Revelation. And then throughout the centuries following to our present day, as human knowledge has increased with increasing speed in recent decades, then so too, doctrine has not changed, nor the fundamental principles of Christian obligation or behavior.
And yet with all of the increases in perspective knowledge that surrounds us all, apostasy still outweighs truth in the minds of most people.
And this apostasy is not in the form of people struggling with the understanding of Christian principles, but in the form of people struggling with which opposing view to pursue, rather than truth.
Apostasy, in these end days (a narrower time frame, not end times which is a broader time frame), but in these end days, when our dispensation is nearing its end, Paul has already written and we have already studied, the ‘great’ apostasy, which will consume society across the planet.
Apostasy is a rejection of truth and a replacement of it with something false, or a substituted false view of life in all of its aspects.
And rejection of all of the aspects of truth, begins with the rejection of the very basics of truth, starting with the roles of men and women, as well as the basic roles of Christians in general, in life.
And apostasy in tantamount to the worship of idols. Idols are anything that is false and upon which you establish your beliefs. All things false are from Satan. All false things are backed by demons. Behind all false things are demons, promoted by Satan who is the master of disguise, 2 Cor. 11:14.
Anyone who pursues false beliefs is in effect worshipping the demons behind those false beliefs, Lev. 17:7, Deu. 32:17, Psa. 106:36-37, 1 Cor. 10:20.
Paul draws the battle lines in chapter four, between false doctrines, all of which come from no source other than Satan, and Bible doctrine, which God has magnified above His very own essence, Psa. 138:2.
And once again, I am going to make this study a part of the Revelation study as well, because we are entering into the area of apostate views, which will have a huge impact on life now, and in the future to come, and of which it is extremely important that you understand, so that you will not become a part of it.
Because in any apostate pursuit in life, there it is accompanied by severe and tremendous judgment and loss of blessing. Both of which you do not want to be a part.
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