Pretender

Thursday, January 12, 2023

I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ.  You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all.  You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.  Galatians 1:6-7

That ancient descriptive about a wolf in sheep’s clothing is all about pretense, pretending to be something, in order to gain another’s favorable view.  The sharpened teeth of that gain is when the wolf eats the sheep that has given trust.  When Jesus sent his disciples out to spread the good news of salvation, he commissioned them with a cautionary bit of advice:

“Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.  Matthew 10:16

Wolves that pretend to be sheep is a caricature of those who would eat you alive if they can gain your trust.  And the chief tool used by spiritual wolves is the same as any other – the lie.

Apostle Paul was shocked at how the Galatian church had been turned by lies so quickly.  Human nature is fickle, and this is why studying and meditating on God’s Word (which is entirely unadulterated truth) is so important.  Internalizing the Word of Truth is a guard against the twisted claims of pretenders.  Consider these two bedrock necessities for the believer:

Truthful words stand the test of time, but lies are soon exposed.  Proverbs 12:19
I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.  Psalm 119:11

The crux of the issue in the case of the Galatian churches was truth, twisted to suit bending these new believers away from the freedom and strength of the Gospel, in order to enslave them to follow these spurious teachers who would take them even further from Jesus’ way.  Our day has plenty of parallels:

·       Prosperity Lies – which attempt to make the Gospel a pyramid scheme, an easy entry into gaining wealth or power if you subscribe to the cult’s twisted version of God’s Word.

·       Healing Lies – focusing on physical well-being of the body as something that can be extorted from God’s power by twisting Scripture out of its context…making the focus all about our human bodies, which by definition are flesh that is passing-away (wouldn’t it be terrible to live in these aging,  sagging, weakening human skeletons forever?).

·       Sexual Lies – these days have no end.  In my youth (1950’s/60’s) the so-called sexual revolution “liberated” fornication (sexual activity between unmarried couples)…it became accepted, even lauded.  In the 1980’s same-sexuality relationships started to become normal.  A neverending barage of media and social campaigns culminated during the Obama era of legalizing same-sex marriage, flaunting man’s disdain for God’s commands.

·       Spiritual Lies – have the result of destroying long-standing faithfulness to godlinesss, and have even turned sanctuaries consecrated to worship of God into houses of human idolatry, “sanctifying” same-sex marriages.  The United Methodist Church, descendant of Wesley’s strong foundation in the Scriptural Word of Truth, is undergoing a complete devolution in this lie.

In our day the lie has gained a reputation for truth.  Sad.

For You Today  

Be a dove kind of sheep…but be different than the Galatian brand; be as shrewd as snakes.  Beware the pretending wolves in sheep’s clothing.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

The Third Day  and  Living in Sodom

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Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©