Tuesday, October 3, 2023
Do-It-Yourself Divinity
He replied, “Don’t let anyone mislead you, for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and saying, ‘The time has come!’ But don’t believe them.” (Luke 21:8 NLT)
In the times in which we’re living, we should be aware of religious deception. Jesus said that in the last days, there would be an explosion of it, culminating in the appearance of the ultimate deceiver, the Antichrist.
We should look out for cults and groups who say they’re the way to God and that their leader, guru, or teacher is the Messiah. Today, in addition to relatively established cults, newer groups have sprung up. There has been a literal explosion of mysticism and spirituality in recent years.
But for the most part, it has not been a return to biblical Christianity. Rather, it has been a New Age mixture of everything under the umbrella of so-called spirituality.
People basically have a do-it-yourself divinity. They say things like, “I don’t believe in organized religion, but I am a very spiritual person. I draw a little from this belief and a little from that belief. It all will get us to Heaven or closer to God.”
However, the Bible tells us that in the last days, Satan will use every kind of wicked deception to fool those who are on their way to destruction because they refuse to believe the truth that would save them. They will be condemned for not believing the truth.
We need to realize that whenever there is the genuine, there always will be the counterfeit. The devil is the great deceiver and the great counterfeiter. Jesus said of him, “He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44 NLT).
The devil is an expert at offering substitutes for the real thing, with enough truth to make it believable and enough error to destroy us.
That is why we must be students of Scripture. The Bible tells us to test the spirits to see if they’re really of God (see 1 John 4:1). We must stop believing the false teachings that come our way. Far too often, we in the church are gullible because we allow our feelings and emotions to direct us instead of looking at things through a biblical lens. We must learn to think biblically and compare everything to what the Bible teaches.
We also need to understand that all religions do not teach the same thing. To believe otherwise is to ignore what the Bible teaches. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 NLT).
If you are a true Christian, then you must believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to God.
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