1 Corinthians 2:4 (KJV) “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:”
Colossians 2:4 (KJV) “ And this I say , lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.”
The Bible tells us that there are false churches and false Christians…and there are false teachers who will proclaim LIES under the guise of TRUTH. Scripture shows us that it is the Spirit of God which draws people to TRUTH. So…what is it that is drawing people to FALSE DOCTRINE??
Reverend Doug Small once spoke on the issue of distinguishing between what is God and what is NOT God, saying that there are “two winds” blowing spiritually. The question is…who’s wind have we set our sails to “pick up”…which wind will our sails be set to receive? So, we see that we have TWO POWERS trying to draw us: one, the Spirit of God, draws us TO GOD…the other, the spirit of antichrist (false prophets), draws men to DECEPTION through ATTRACTION. The Bible uses very revealing terms when it speaks of false teaching and false prophets: it uses the terms “seduce” and “entice” and “covetousness” and “great swelling words of vanity” and “allure”. Read a few passages with me:
Mark 13:32 (KJV) “For false Christs and false prophets shall rise , and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce , if it were possible, even the elect.”
2 Peter 2:1-3 (KJV) “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.”
These are words which show the deception of SATANIC attraction…as opposed to the “drawing” and “wooing” of the Spirit of God as He draws men to Christ.
The Spirit of God draws men TO God by drawing spirit (of man) to Spirit (of God). The Holy Spirit ALWAYS draws men to TRUTH. Due to this fact, we can KNOW that when false doctrines and false teachings are being preached by a false teacher/prophet, the Holy Spirit will draw a person ELSEWHERE. The enticing and seducing tactics of Satan draw people to lies, as those lies denounce any truth, such as any mention of SIN or REPENTANCE or OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST, etc. For every REAL MOVE of God…Satan provides a COUNTERFEIT. The REAL is always based on the POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT to draw men to God: the COUNTERFEIT will rely on ATTRACTION to get the job done. And, none of us can underestimate the power and deception involved in that SEDUCTION and ENTICEMENT.
Thus, the Bible likens Satan’s false “wooing” with terms that deal with an act and/or process of SEDUCTION. The lies of Satan are STRONG. Many are fooled. The draw of ENTERTAINMENT is proving to be a POWERFUL tool as it fights the draw of the HOLY SPIRIT. Both sides in this battle for souls are at work: the Holy Spirit and Satan. One draws spiritually…the other draws through the flesh. And the flesh is a powerful thing to overcome (the Bible likens it to a battle within!). This SEDUCTION and ENTICEMENT of Satan is to use “some truth” and “some lie” to disguise and MIMIC the work of the Holy Spirit. It is a SPIRITUAL COUNTERFEIT…of which we must take note and recognize. In perpetrating this COUNTERFEIT on humanity, Satan uses one of the most basic tactics: he simply uses ATTRACTION. We all find beauty APPEALING. That beauty may be judged by what we see, what we hear, even what we can experience. Notice this truth: SEDUCTION doesn’t work if the SEDUCER doesn’t appear ATTRACTIVE to us. SEDUCTION is solely based on the “desires of the flesh.” What draws us…seduces us…must be APPEALING to us. And it is in THIS REALM that Satan is working within the Church to COUNTERFEIT truth. It may be best expressed this way: Satan appeals to our SENSES and DESIRES…but God appeals to our SPIRIT and DEVOTION.
Today, we see the success of Satan’s ploy in much of the Church, with churches employing every possible tactic and method of ENTERTAINMENT to ENTICE people to attend their church. The appeal is to the SENSES…to the FLESH. Look through the materials being given and sent out by most churches today: the focus of the material is the PROGRAMS OF THE CHURCH and the EXCITEMENT that the church can offer the attendee. It is MARKETING at its religious finest! Many will want to say here “Well, what is wrong with MARKETING?” Let me make this clear: the Church has NOTHING for sale. The Church has no PRODUCT to offer that is in COMPETITION with ANYTHING that the world has to offer. What the Church has is JESUS! We are to proclaim “JESUS!”…but we are NOT told to proclaim “CHURCH!” Face it…MARKETING is a CHURCH focused act. And whether you SEE the problem with focusing on the Church as opposed to focusing on Jesus…trust me, there are HUGE problems. Face it…if you MARKET the CHURCH…then you are promoting a very FALLIBLE, FLAWED entity. That is why we were NEVER called to do that…we were never called to promote the CHURCH! You see…when we promote JESUS, then we promote something that is INFALLIBLE…with NO FLAWS.
Without even MEANING to…with no MALICE or HARM intended…the Church has actually successfully begun to TURN PEOPLE AWAY FROM JESUS…all because it tried to promote ITSELF instead of JESUS! In my humble opinion, the result has been catastrophic. The Church ITSELF caused the extreme and constant EXAMINATION of ITSELF…while many in society have been looking for ANY FLAW to show itself, thus “proving” to them that the Church is no better than the society at large. Follow me in this thought:
Society is full of ACTIVITIES. People can do AMOST ANYTHING at ANY TIME OF DAY that they want to. The possibilities are LIMITLESS! Every possible desire and interest can now be FULFILLED almost IMMEDIATELY! Society has EVERY POSSIBLE CHOICE available…at the click of a button. In MUSIC…I am ASTOUNDED at the number of channels available now, by which a person can watch music videos in every possible genre of music. And each of these have their very own channel! My point in all of this?
Regarding entertainment...in any and every form…society has OVERLOAD!
Let me give you a modern parable to help explain: My car is low on fuel. There is a convenience store/gas station a few blocks from my home. The fuel at this station is the EXACT SAME PRICE as the fuel at another gas station which is 15 miles away. Now, barring any other desire to go anywhere else…other than going JUST for fuel…would I more than likely stop at the gas station which is only a few blocks from my home…or would I more than likely travel 15 miles for fuel? All things being equal…probably 100% of us would simply go to the gas station around the corner! If what you want is available ONE PLACE and it is CONVENIENT…then few people would even CONSIDER traveling the 15 miles to get the EXACT SAME product!
This is what I believe is happening to the Church. The Church has MARKETED itself, telling people “What we have to offer.” In doing so, MANY people realize that the offer is no different from the world!
Don’t you get it?! Can’t you see it?! Everything is based on APPEALING to…or ATTRACTING…the people! In doing so, society has begun to COMPARE what they can get ELSEWHERE with what they can get AT CHURCH! Do not blame society for doing this! They do it because the Church created the COMPARISON!
I have been in music all of my life. Yet…I realize this…the “WORLD” has some AWESOME music. Journey is my favorite group. I REALLY enjoy their music: vocals, instrumentals, everything. So let me say this in a way that is NOT offensive but it remains true: In almost every case, the Church can not offer BETTER music than the WORLD can. In some cases, the music in the Church is JUST AS GOOD…but, it is NOT better! That is important to realize. EQUAL will not win when it comes to the desire to ATTRACT! Face it…just like the FUEL example above…if I can get EQUAL close to home (or AT home)…then why bother to DRIVE to get it!?!
One quick note: by seeking to ATTRACT people…one Church pits itself against OTHER CHURCHES! So, to maintain, we must ALWAYS stay “above’ the other Churches! If not…what the OTHER Church offers may become more ATTRACTIVE!
Let me make this clear: I believe the Church should do EVERYTHING with excellence. It frustrates me when they DO NOT do things with excellence. But please grasp this: EXCELLENCE is not GOOD ENOUGH! Why?? Because society does not need EXCELLENCE which is ON PAR with what they already have! What society NEEDS is JESUS!
I truly believe this with all of my heart:
It is NOT what the Church CAN DO which needs to be the focus: it is what the Church CANNOT DO which needs to be the focus…and what the Church CANNOT DO is what Jesus CAN do!!!!!!
The ONLY thing that the Church has that is NEEDED by society is JESUS! And when we offer them JESUS…then we offer them something that they CANNOT FIND and they CANNOT GET anywhere else! JESUS is the only “offering” which is EXCLUSIVE to the Church! Everything else…EVERYTHING…can be found and experienced by society ELSEWHERE!
Let JESUS be what attracts people to the Church…and keep this in mind: To BE attractive is different from SEEKING TO BE attractive!
Satan's work will have the APPEARANCE of good...but it will be EVIL. SEDUCTION and ENTICEMENT are built upon the premise of SEEKING to attract...using HUMAN desire as a means to an end. MARKETING causes us to SEEK ATTRACTIVENESS. Don’t doubt that statement: you only MARKET if you believe you HAVE…or CAN HAVE…a MARKETABLITLY…or an ATTRACTIVENESS to the consumer. And…the Church is NOT a CONSUMER oriented entity in the first place: we, the Church, are a CREATOR oriented entity!
So…you are left wondering “Then how do we grow? How does the Church increase in size? How do we get the message out?” Well…let Jesus take care of the GROWTH part. The second answer is a bit more difficult: that involves becoming the Church that we were intended to be: without false doctrine, focusing on JESUS and not our own desires, creating Disciples…and those Disciples leaving the Church on Sunday with an intense purpose and desire to win the lost and tell others about Jesus…and, yes, their Church.
CHANGED LIVES are an amazing and unintended MARKETING PLAN!
If your Church puts all of its efforts into JESUS and MAKING DISCIPLES…then UNINTENTIONAL MARKETING takes place! The Spirit of the Lord can work MIRACLES through the changed lives of believers!
My last thoughts? Satan seeks to COUNTERFEIT everything…and there are COUNTERFEIT CHURCHES everywhere. What will make YOUR Church any different from THOSE Churches? Both the COUNTERFEIT Church and the REAL Church will offer some great programs, talented musicians, fun opportunities…and the list goes on. But there is ONE thing that the COUNTERFEIT Church cannot offer society that the REAL Church can: and that is JESUS!
What Satan draws people to is simply the PRODUCTION! What the Holy Spirit draws people to is the PRODUCER…the CREATOR of the UNIVERSE…to JESUS!
Remember: a COUNTERFEIT has no true purchasing power! The REAL…Jesus…has ALL the purchasing power! And He has already paid that price to purchase the salvation of EVERYONE in your town or city! They just need to be shown JESUS!
Food for thought.
God bless!
Ron
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