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April 1, 2012 |
| Satan Attacks The Church | ||
As soon as the Apostles would start a new church, Satan would begin working to knock it down. His weapon of choice was evil men and the tactics varied wildly. Some attacks were from the outside in, such as physical attacks by Jews against Christians or by Romans against the new illegal religion called "The Way". But some were from the inside, by believers in the church. This lesson is a very quick study into the kinds of these insider attacks and the evidence that some were successful.
Many of Paul's letters to the churches deal with false teachings that were creeping into the church. There are too many false teachings to name them all and Paul isn't always clear about the nature of the false teaching. Some of the same teachings continue on to today, such as
But why would Satan choose these kinds of attacks – why would he think that they would be successful? It is for this reason.
It is in the nature of every man and woman to desire to have some action they can take that will assure their salvation. It's even better if this action allows them to continue on in sin.
But that is not the nature of God's salvation. It is a gift, not something that is earned or deserved.
The false teaching attack is effective in two ways.
Paul was fully aware that these attacks would come. In Acts 20 Paul, on preparing to leave the church at Ephesus, says
29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.
The other apostles also fought this battle against false teachers. Their letters to the churches did result in some churches taking corrective action. But Satan did have his successes also.
In 1 John 2 we see that Satan has successfully ripped apart a church
19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
In 3 John 1, which we believe was written very late in the apostolic era, we see that Satan has such control of a church that it will not allow the Apostle John to be with them.
9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. 10 So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.
Continuing on after the Apostolic era Satan continued to have his successes through the formation of the Roman Catholic Church, the split with the Orthodox churches, the split with the Protestant churches, and the myriad splits within the Protestant churches.
We must be aware that Satan still uses false teachers and false teachings to attack the church. But we have an advantage over the early church in the writings of the Apostles. If we choose to read and understand their teachings we will be prepared to refute false teachings.
Our foundation must be the word of God, the whole word of God. Writings by other authors may help us to better understand the teachings of in the Bible but we must never abandon the foundation to follow other authors.
Papal Infallibility
Prayer Beads
Holy Water
Purgatory - "All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified. after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven."
Mary - Mary had no original sin, remained free of sin throughout her life, is "Mother of God" and the new Eve. Bodily assumption into heaven instead of death
Trinity
Sources of Doctrine - Bible, church fathers, popes, bishops; Seven Ecumenical Councils; Trent, Vatican, and other Catholic councils
Inspiration & Inerrancy of the Bible
Crossing oneself
Original sin
Salvation
Communion
Baptism
Where do we go when we die