THEY WALK AMONG US: UNMASKING THE DECEIVERS IN THE PULPITS
By Pamela Couvrette - Posted at Guarding the Deposit:
As someone who has participated in the occult, my answer to whether Christians should celebrate Halloween is that if Christians saw the real faces of Halloween, they would be horrified. Witchcraft is as the sin of rebellion (1 Samuel 15:23) and the decorations of gore and evil should not be associated with light and purity (2 Corinthians 6:14). Whatever my viewpoints are, I know many Christians exercise ‘Christian liberty’ with this holiday, so I’ll let this controversy brew without me (for this year anyway :-)).
Horror movies exploit fear to create more fear. But, fear of what? The evil characters can only destroy the body. The bigger horror is the evil characters in the pulpit that lead many to eternal damnation. Millions of people are deceived by the disguises donned by false teachers because these teachers are not outfitted in obvious, evil costumes. They are dressed to con and deceive. Moreover, the false teachers who are obvious in their heresies are doubly useful to the enemy – not only do they have their naive followers, but commonly heard is “Oh, Heidi Baker/Juanita Bynum/Gloria Copeland is a false teacher for sure, but not Beth Moore/Priscilla Schrier/Christine Caine.” It’s easy to think outlandish performances in the pulpit would only sound the discernment alarm, however, the performances of a Todd Bentley or a John Crowder further mask the stealthiness of a Christine Caine or a Rachel Held Evans. And how dare we mention Peter Popoff and Beth Moore in the same sentence! Shock! Gasp! Yet, despite outward appearances, all false teachers have many things in common, including their delight in deception (2 Peter 2:13).
It is because of this horrifying level of deceit that I apply the reasoning that I use for Halloween – if Christians saw the real faces behind false teachers, they would quickly repent and turn away from them. Let’s unmask these liars and discover how these whitewashed tombs deceive their victims and hold them captive. Let’s not end up like a victim in a B-rated horror movie who runs around in confusion with their arms flailing in every direction and who meet their end by stumbling into a dark alley when they should have stuck to the lit-up streets. Set your feet upon solid ground and let the light of Scripture guide your way.
“Masked, I advance.” Rene Descartes
As someone who has participated in the occult, my answer to whether Christians should celebrate Halloween is that if Christians saw the real faces of Halloween, they would be horrified. Witchcraft is as the sin of rebellion (1 Samuel 15:23) and the decorations of gore and evil should not be associated with light and purity (2 Corinthians 6:14). Whatever my viewpoints are, I know many Christians exercise ‘Christian liberty’ with this holiday, so I’ll let this controversy brew without me (for this year anyway :-)).
Horror movies exploit fear to create more fear. But, fear of what? The evil characters can only destroy the body. The bigger horror is the evil characters in the pulpit that lead many to eternal damnation. Millions of people are deceived by the disguises donned by false teachers because these teachers are not outfitted in obvious, evil costumes. They are dressed to con and deceive. Moreover, the false teachers who are obvious in their heresies are doubly useful to the enemy – not only do they have their naive followers, but commonly heard is “Oh, Heidi Baker/Juanita Bynum/Gloria Copeland is a false teacher for sure, but not Beth Moore/Priscilla Schrier/Christine Caine.” It’s easy to think outlandish performances in the pulpit would only sound the discernment alarm, however, the performances of a Todd Bentley or a John Crowder further mask the stealthiness of a Christine Caine or a Rachel Held Evans. And how dare we mention Peter Popoff and Beth Moore in the same sentence! Shock! Gasp! Yet, despite outward appearances, all false teachers have many things in common, including their delight in deception (2 Peter 2:13).
It is because of this horrifying level of deceit that I apply the reasoning that I use for Halloween – if Christians saw the real faces behind false teachers, they would quickly repent and turn away from them. Let’s unmask these liars and discover how these whitewashed tombs deceive their victims and hold them captive. Let’s not end up like a victim in a B-rated horror movie who runs around in confusion with their arms flailing in every direction and who meet their end by stumbling into a dark alley when they should have stuck to the lit-up streets. Set your feet upon solid ground and let the light of Scripture guide your way.
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