Foundations: Protection From Deception
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Believers need protection from deception. Doctrinal misconceptions are commonly spawned, as sincere Christians attempt to move in the arena of spiritual revelations. This is a biblically legitimate desire that has risks. It carries the potential for both good and deceptive revelations. (Heb. 5:12-14) There are three things, vital for protection against deception. Humility is a great asset. It enables us to listen to our critics with the understanding that God may be subtly using them to caution us. Next, never perpetuate doctrines or ministry techniques upon experiences that do not have clear precedents in the Word of God. Thirdly, become securely grounded in the foundation doctrines of the Christian faith.
Maturing in the Christian life is similar to adding an addition to your home. Both require that you secure a building permit. Cities issue permits to insure that those who build will do so according to code. God requires no less because He loves us too much to chance our moving in the realities of mature revelation, if we have faulty foundations. His hesitation is motivated by His desire to diminish the potential for us to go into fanatical error. Therefore, He will not permit us to receive the insights of the mature, unless we are building according to the code of the six foundation doctrines of the Christian faith which are listed in Hebrews 6:1-3. Most clergymen and their congregants are unaware that such a list exists in the Scriptures. The following is a cursory outline of these basic truths:
I) Repentance from dead works: Repentance means to change your mind and direction one hundred and eighty degrees. God has never changed His mind about man’s need to repent, as he turns to Christ. In Acts 2:37-39 the religious Jews asked Peter what they must do to receive Christ. The initial word of his response was repentance. The context reveals that it is essential for anyone whom the Lord calls to repent, as they turn to Him. We are to turn from two forms of “dead works.” The first is all the sinful acts that we committed prior to our knowledge of Christ when flowing with the spirit of disobedience, as it manipulated the desires of our flesh and minds. (Eph. 2:1-3) The second type of dead works from which we need to repent is our attempt to prove ourselves worthy of God’s kingdom by any religious act, other than faith in Jesus’ atoning work of grace on the cross.
2) Faith toward God: Our faith is in Lordship of Jesus as the only-begotten Son of God and in God, as our loving, heavenly Father. We must be absolutely convinced that faith has transformed us into new creations in Christ wherein the old us is nonexistent. Our faith is walked out by our ongoing confidence in the reliability of the Scriptures, as God’s Word, and obedience to the Lord’s voice.
3) The doctrine of baptisms: Baptism is in the plural because there are two types. In each, we are immersed into one of two distinct substances: water or the Holy Spirit.
According to Romans 6:3-4, baptism in water is our identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord. It is an outward sign of our inward decision to be separated from our old lifestyle and to live in obedience to the Lord.
The baptism in the Holy Spirit is an event, subsequent to one’s salvation, wherein we are filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered with spiritual gifts to assist us in our Christian lives. This experience is not one and the same as receiving the Holy Spirit in the new birth. In Acts 8 the people who had been evangelized and baptized in water under the preaching of Philip, later received the infilling of the Spirit through the ministry of Peter and John.
In water baptism a servant of the Lord immerses us in water. With the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Jesus baptizes us in the Spirit, to enable us to demonstrate power as His servants. (John. 1:33)
4) Laying on of hands: We lay hands on people to impart the Holy Spirit and physical healing. (Mark. 16:17-18, Acts 19:6) The blessing for fruitful lives can be passed from one generation to the next through this sacrament. (Gen. 48:8-20) Through the laying on of hands both spiritual gifts and authority are transmitted from one believer to another. (1 Tim. 4:14)
5) Resurrection of the dead: There is a portion of Scripture that mentions the existence of a silver cord that is attached to each person and couples them with the eternal/heavenly realm. It is severed at death when the human spirit departs from this life. (Eccles. 12:5-7) This cord fits the description of the tunnel of light that people allegedly travel during near-death experiences. It might be described as a type of spiritual umbilical cord that sustains our lives from above while we are living here on earth and provides even the unconverted with the potential for communication from the eternal realm. (Job 32:8; 33:4; 34:14) At death, this cord is severed, and the spirit travels up to the eternal realm. When the spirit reaches this realm, it is given directives to go to an abode of bliss or torment. (2 Cor. 5:8, Lk. 16:23)
Prior to the resurrection of Christ, the righteous’ souls and spirits went to a nether part of the earth called Paradise/Abraham’s Bosom while their physical bodies remained in their graves. The spirits and souls of the unrighteous went to a place of burning torment that was separated from Paradise by an impassable gulf. While Jesus’ mangled body lay in the tomb, the spirit-man of Jesus descended into the torment chamber and pronounced eternal condemnation on the unrighteous. (1 Pet 3:18-20) Then He crossed the impassable gulf and preached salvation to the OT saints in Paradise. That number included the dying thief whom Jesus promised to meet in Paradise. (1 Pet 4:5-6, Philip 2:10) There they heard the answers in the affirmative to the Messianic questions posed in Psa 88:10-12. Subsequently, they fulfilled the text that says that those beneath the earth will bow their knees and confess the Lordship of Christ. Shortly after the resurrection of Christ Abraham’s Bosom was emptied. The spirits and souls of the righteous were united with their physical bodes for the first time in centuries and some were seen walking around Jerusalem. (Matt 27:52-53) It’s likely that they were the “cloud” in which Jesus ascended from the Mt. of Olives. Post the resurrection of Jesus the spirits and souls of the righteous have instantly ascended into heaven at death and those of the unrighteous into the place of torment. (2 Cor 5:8) The bodies of both await one of two possible resurrections.
The first of which is called the first resurrection and it has three phases. The initial phase was aforementioned and took place in a nearly simultaneous manner with Christ’s resurrection from the dead. This is when the Old Testament saints who had been waiting in Abraham’s Bosom/Paradise came out of their graves. The next phase will occur at what is commonly called the Rapture. In this installment the bodies of Christians, who have died in the faith, subsequent to the ascension of Jesus, will be raised in a glorified, incorruptible form. In heaven their glorified bodies will be reunited with their spirits and souls that have been with the Lord, since their deaths. (1 Thes: 4:16-17, 1 Cor 15:42-44, 2 Cor 5:8) The final phase will take place prior to the thousand-year reign of Christ. In it all believers who perished during the tribulation will be resurrected. (Rev. 20:4-6)
The second resurrection happens after the millennium. This is where all those who have not been resurrected previously will come back to life. (Rev. 20:11-15)
6) The eternal judgment: There are three judgment seats at which different categories of people will be judged to determine their various rewards and/or eternal destinies. At the Judgment Seat of Christ, believers will be judged to determine their rewards in the hereafter. (2 Cor. 5:10) At the Throne of Christ’s glory nations and their inhabitants will be assessed as to how they treated the Lord’s brothers. His natural brothers are the Jewish people and His spiritual brothers are Christians. Faithful nations will be part of the millennial kingdom. (Matt 25:31-46) The final judgment takes place after the millennium at the Great White Throne. There, all those who did not know the Lord will be judged to determine their eternal destinies. (Rev. 20:11-15) The criterion for judgment will be how they lived in accordance to the dictates of their consciences and the light of salvation that was available within their respective cultures and generations. (Rom 2:5-16) Total rebels who ignored the warnings of the OT prophets and/or those who were confronted with the message of salvation with the biddings of the Holy Spirit to accept Christ and willfully rejected what they heard will be thrown into the lake of fire. Others whose names are found in the Book of life who did their best to follow the Law of God written on their hearts seeking honor, glory, immortality and eternal life; who might become citizens of the new heavens and the new earth. They will not however be members of the Royal Bride of Christ.
The Holy Spirit is poised to grace us with prophetic insights, which we have not known heretofore, that will motivate us with visions for His glory. Let us all pickup the challenge to become fully established in the doctrines that will protect us, as we move from glory to glory in revelation.
Globally, Christians are being refreshed with a new zeal to lay aside every weight that would hinder us. We would be wise to reevaluate the spiritual authenticity of the beliefs that we have acquired in our spirit-filled journey. Here is what one can do, if it becomes apparent that you are needlessly encumbered by some doctrinal misconception. Repent of it and renounce it. Then make a strong corrective confession of faith, based on the principles of God’s Word that reveal the truth. If you know that you have influenced others with an unsound doctrine, it is advisable to offer them an update on your position relating to it.
You need not fear deception, if you are grounded in the foundations of the faith and continuously cultivate a love for the unadulterated truths of God’s Word. Doctrinal misconceptions and superstitions cannot survive the filtering process of the inner witness of the Spirit of Truth that is coupled with objective knowledge of the inspired Word of the Lord.