“I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naïve people.”
When I read this verse my mind instantly goes back to Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple in the late 1970’s. Where 900 people chose to die by drinking a cocktail of drugs in Kool-Aid because Jim Jones’ cult was about to be taken down. I am sure you can watch or read about the horrible ordeal. For those 900 people who died that day, there were the ones who got out and told the story. The smooth talk and flattery that deceived the minds of naïve people was burned into the history books that day.
If it happened back in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, it can happen now. Paul even writes to the followers of Christ in Rome and warns them all of such smooth talk and flattery and how it can warp and deceive your mind. The urging we read about in the verses above paint an ugly familiar picture of what Jim Jones did to so many people. He was not the only one by a long stretch. Many more have come and gone perverting the gospel of Christ. They only sought to feed their own appetites as the scripture says. What gives them away is the fact that they cause divisions and obstacles in your way that are contrary to the Word of God.
Eve was deceived by Satan because Satan was successful in warping her understanding of God and what He really said. The Bible says that Satan roams about seeking only to steel, kill, and destroy the things of God and the people of God. We have an adversary that has been deceiving Christians for 100’s of years and he is really good at it. We know this because the only one to ever defeat Satan at his weakest was Jesus in the desert. After 40 days of fasting in desert, that is when Satan came to tempt Jesus. Jesus was not deceived at all and threw the Word of God at Satan as His defense.
Today I urge you to look around and be wise. Don’t be deceived by such people and what they preach. The Bible says that we should know the truth and the truth will set us free. If you don’t read the Word of God daily then the truth it talks about and how it will set you free has been alluding you. The Bible also says to study and show thyself approved. In other words, we have to actually pick up the Bible and study it! Those obstacles that are put up by people wanting to deceive you can be seen only when you know the truth about what word says.
In today’s world we have so many things that are directly against the Word of God and ways of God. Many have been deceived and mislead, believing a lie. And that lie and narrative has often been used for someone’s personal motive rather than to serve God. Be alert and arm yourself with Word of God, the double edge sword, and be ready. When Satan is described as a lion seeking someone to devour it should scare all of us into place where we dive into the Word of God and become obedient to ways of God that comes through faith by the hearing of Word. Finally, Paul tells us to keep away from such people.
Those who escaped the clutches of Jim Jones and The People temple can tell you one thing, “I will never go back.” They kept away from men who’s desire was personal and satanic. Our goal should be to run to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith and run away from such people who seek to deceive us with false doctrines of demons. Be wise and be on the look out, but most of all, let the truth of God be written on your hearts and minds.
Let It Go 
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