SPIRITUAL DECEPTION IS RAMPANT

 

 

Jesus teaches that the world cannot receive the Spirit of God, God within us:

 

·       “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:15–17)

 

Yet many professing “Christians” claim that God lives within each of us, even if we have not been reconciled to Him, forgiven, and His wrath abides upon us:

 

·       “The God who dwells in our inner sanctuary is also the God who dwells in the inner sanctuary of every human being.” (Henry Nouwen)

 

·       “Yes, God is alive and he is in every single human being. (Robert Schuller)

 

·       “Blessed are those who see God in every person. (Pope Francis)

 

·       “God is everywhere, in everyone. (Roma Downey; All of the these quotations are taken from The Titanic and Today’s Church, Warren B. Smith)

 

However, the Bible explicitly and consistently teaches that God is not in everyone. Instead, His wrath abides on all those who have rejected Him and His clear evidences:

 

·       Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:36)

 

·       For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. (Romans 1:18)

 

Instead of God indwelling them, the knowledge of God’s judgment accompanies them:

·       We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. (Romans 2:2–5; 1:32; Hebrew 1:26-27; John 16:8)

 

Unless they confess and sincerely repent of their sins, they cannot receive the Spirit of God. He is the last One they would want:

·       The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:14–16)

 

It is a Biblical impossibility for the unrepentant to have the Spirit of God. Even God’s people had been afraid to approach God, let alone to even hear His voice:

·       Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” (Exodus 20:18–19)

 

Nevertheless, there is a multitude who teach that we all have the Spirit within, and even that those who listen to this spirit will usher in a worldwide awakening and peace. However, the Scriptures often warn us against Satanic deceptions:

·       For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. (2 Corinthians 11:13–15)

 

Considering these deceptive teachings, I take comfort that Jesus’ followers hear His voice in the Scriptures:

·       “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:27–30)