On Guard

DEVOTION

2 CORINTHIANS

ON GUARD

2 Cor 11:13-15

13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

NIV

Here is the main theme of what has been in the process of being laid out for us. There are indeed false apostles and deceitful workers both in those days and in our days. They bring just enough of the truth to sound right, but actually are filled with deceit and lies. Even though they teach and easier road to travel, they burden their listeners with untruth so they cannot walk the right path. If we know the truth we should be able to see their masquerade, their masks should be plain to us. But it appears way too many believers are taken in by these servants of Satan. It is clear their aim is to right at the church and they have infiltrated it posing as people of righteousness. They could care less about the masses who refuse to accept Christ, although, these posers would like for those who refuse Christ to accept their message, because it is a false one and thus would keep those unbelievers as unbelievers. But their real aim is to destroy the church, destroy the truth of the message. It is easy to see them, for many of them preach such a name it and claim it message, they preach we can have it all, they preach we should all be rich, that God wants us all to be so well off, but in reality they preach for their own personal gain. They may not admit or even know they are serving Satan, they may have been deceived as well, but nevertheless we must not allow their false teaching to infiltrate our faith in Christ. There is way too many untruths being spread among believers. We should not allow ourselves to be burdened down with the false teachings of those who say we can do it all, or those who say we cannot do anything. Some have no rules at all while others have so many we would never be able to be innocent. God has given us the gift of discernment so that by his Spirit we can discern these false teachers for who they are. But we need to be on guard, on watch, and sensitive to the Spirit so we will know and shut off all that noise, that deceitful teaching and untruth. If we accept any of their words, then we might well be in danger of experiencing the same end they will. Just as in the duel of fencing, we need to keep up our guard so as not to be pierced, but to use our sword, the Word of God, to win the battle. On Guard!