Tag: false Christians

An Appearance of Godliness: Case Studies in Evil (Part 14)

~ Jeff Crippen ~ 4 Comments

Galatians 4:8 ESV  Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.

The devil enslaves. Sin enslaves. To be in the kingdom of darkness is to be a slave to it. Owned by it. Possessed by it (I suppose in this sense every person outside of Christ is “possessed”). The devil considers his slaves to be his property, his servants. He owns them. And ownership is what I want to talk about in this article.

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An Appearance of Godliness: Case Studies in Evil (Part 13)

~ Jeff Crippen ~ Leave a comment

2 Kings 6:15-17 ESV  When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”  (16)  He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”  (17)  Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

What if the Lord opened our eyes as He did those of this young man? That is, what if we could see people and events as they really are? The Apostle John exhorts us to “test the spirits” because many false prophets are around us claiming to speak for the Lord. We are to compare what they are saying and doing with the light of God’s Word. But what if we could literally see people for who they really are? I suspect this is going to happen when Christ comes again and judges the world. We will see who people really are. I mean, even their appearance will cease to be deceptive to our eyes. What will they look like? I think of a horde of evil beings gnashing their teeth energized by pure evil.

Well, what I would like to do in this article is to describe for you some people who are typical church members. Professing Christians who fill the pews each Sunday. Some are “pillars” of their churches. Others preach and teach. Still others are the busy bees buzzing around in the various committee meetings and “ministries.” What do they look like to the Lord? What would they look like if we could see them as they truly are?

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An Appearance of Godliness: Case Studies in Evil (Part 12)

~ Jeff Crippen ~ 4 Comments

John 15:18 ESV  “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

Sometimes evil comes at us in the form of some organization. A group of people organized together to form a – monster. The world is a beast like that. The world consists of individual people and yet those individuals are formed into a “cosmos” that is of one spirit – the “god of this world.” When evil is organized like this, it becomes exponentially more evil.

Genesis 11:5-6 ESV  And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built.  (6)  And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.

One of the forms of organized evil that I have met with is organizations of churches, generally called denominations. For quite a few years myself and our church here really wanted fellowship with other local churches. We sought it in the typical way – find a denomination that we agree doctrinally with and become a formal member.

Continue reading “An Appearance of Godliness: Case Studies in Evil (Part 12)” →