13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, 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 correspond to their actions.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 BSB
The word “apostle” means teacher, one who preaches God’s Word and explains its deep spiritual meaning to the listeners. In Paul’s time, many false teachers and preachers were popping up and teaching the churches—that Paul planted—a different Jesus, one foreign to the gospel.
4 For if someone comes and proclaims a Jesus other than the One we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit than the One you received, or a different gospel than the one you accepted, you put up with it way too easily. -2 Corinthians 11:4 BSB
All false apostles, who claim to believe in Jesus, come from one person—the serpent of Genesis 3 named Satan, the devil, who deceives the whole world. Satan plants them with genuine believers for concealment like in our churches, homes, and social media platforms to legitimize them as the real McCoy—true Christians.
Once the genuine believers accept those whom Satan has planted as “true” Christians, then through Satan’s prompting and direction, they will introduce heretical doctrines. Heresy means to believe in any aspect of Jesus that does not resemble the Jesus mentioned in all four gospels. It also means when one integrates, into the Scriptures, the influence of the culture or any teachings from false religions. If we interpret the Scriptures with a lens other than the Holy Spirit, that interpretation will become heresy because it will take you away from the truth into a false belief.
These false apostles come with different names, pretending to be someone else. What I mean by this is that through the internet, it is impossible to know who’s who, and anyone can come to you saying this or that about themselves, but you cannot know for sure if it’s true, especially if they claim to be a Christian. One of the ways to tell is to look at their preaching. Their preaching will always be obscure. It doesn’t matter what topic they are preaching about. They will never give a clear understanding of what sin is and will easily compromise the truth for the sake of stepping on anyone’s toes. They will use different screen names to attack sound biblical teachings, but with their real names, they will pretend to support sound teachings—playing both sides.
To put it into perspective how hard it is to detect an impostor, we can look at Alec Baldwin, who is recognized by the industry for his acting skills, having been nominated for best actor. He recently killed a person for real on his set with a prop gun. When we watch him on TV making a statement on what happened and when his emotion surfaces, how can we know if what we are seeing is genuine? The man is a good actor, which would make it very difficult for anyone to detect if his emotion is real. It is the same with Satan’s servants, who claim to be believers. God’s Word is what helps us to see through their facade.
This article is an appeal to all the spiritual actors out there to come to repentance, who are masquerading as believers, with the intent to deceive many people. Remember that time is passing by, and now is the time to get right with the Lord.
Spiritual Minefield 