Enemies of Christ inside the Church

(Philippians 3:18-19)

It is sad to say, but not all who come to Christ will stay with Him. The call will go out to many people around the world, but some will outright reject the call, others will fall away for some reason and worse yet, others will see Christianity as a means for personal power or gain and use the word in ways it was never meant to be used.

There are warnings about these things all over the bible, and this section of scripture tells us about enemies of Christ.

18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. (Philippians 3:18-19)

So let’s look at some of the scriptures that warn us of these things and take heed to understand and not fall prey to these things ourselves, or to those enemies of Christ who have fallen into these traps.

Parable of the Sower

There are many examples in the Bible of people going astray, but one of the most enlightening is the parable of the Sower.

Most Christians are familiar with this parable, but if you need a reminder, this is what it says.

3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.” (Matthew 13:3-9)

There are people in the church who have read this parable and had many discussions about what it could mean. In fact, I am aware of one group of Christians who discussed this at some length and did not come to an understanding of the meaning of what this parable was all about.

And I must say this puzzles me, because if they had just continued reading the chapter, Jesus explains the parable to His disciples. So let’s look at His explanation.

18 “Hear then the parable of the sower. 19 When any one hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in his heart; this is what was sown along the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the delight in riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit, and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (Matthew 13:18-23)

So the first thing we learn from this, and that those people should have learned, is that if you look for the answers, they are there. I have learned in my years as a Christians that the Lord wants His people to know what He is talking about and what He is doing. That is why He gave us all of the prophecies in both the Old and New Testaments and why one of His gifts to the church was the gift of prophecy. This gift was so that He could tell His people what was to come so that we would not be in the dark.

Anyway, back to the scripture at hand.

We see in the parable of the sower that there are four groups of people identified. All of them received the word (seed) but they each reacted differently upon hearing it.

I tend to look at these four groups in terms of the “Four P’s,” which are: Perspective, Perseverance, Priorities, and Passion.

The first group had the word snatched away immediately before it could take root in their hearts. They lack the Perspective to see the power of the word and what it could do in their lives, and so they lost the opportunity for salvation.

The second group heard the word and accepted it with joy, but they lacked the Perseverance to hold on to it and stick it out when times got tough, and so they fell away. Their lack of Perseverance in the word took away their chance for salvation.

The third group heard the word but it became strangled by the pressures of everything else in their life. They had no sense of Priorities to be able to see that by making the word their first Priority it would be of immensely greater benefit than the cares, riches, pleasure and other things of this life. Their lack of Priorities strangled their chance for salvation.

But the last group heard the word and accepted it deeply into their hearts and minds. They became Passionate about the word and the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and so they grew in Him and bore much fruit. Their Passion for the Lord led to all of His blessings and salvation.

It is a sad thing, but as Paul says he shed tears for those who had fallen away from grace and turned back to the world becoming enemies of Christ. We too have or will see these same patterns take place today. The lure of the world and all it offers is strong and many will follow the paths of the world, not realising that those paths are a trap. They lad to death and destruction, whereas the promise of Jesus Christ is life and eternal salvation.

Our challenge is to not be like the first three groups in the parable of the sower who lacked Perspective, Perseverance, or Priorities, and instead to seek to be Passionate about Christ and seeking His kingdom as the fourth group did.

Enemies of Christ, False Teachers and Empty Promises

There is another group of people who we need to be aware of and take care to avoid. These are the false teachers that infiltrate the church for their own benefit and gain and wreak havoc among the members of the church. They are truly enemies of Christ as they oppose Him and destroy the working of the church.

They make promises that are false and they cannot keep in their misguided attempts to pull people under their influence. We see a good example of the types of destruction they cause in 2 Peter chapter 2, which you should read. However I will quote the first few verses and the last few verses so you can see the depth of the destruction these false teachers cause.

1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their licentiousness, and because of them the way of truth will be reviled. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words; from of old their condemnation has not been idle, and their destruction has not been asleep. (2 Peter 2:1-3)

And;

17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm; for them the nether gloom of darkness has been reserved. 18 For, uttering loud boasts of folly, they entice with licentious passions of the flesh men who have barely escaped from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption; for whatever overcomes a man, to that he is enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb, The dog turns back to his own vomit, and the sow is washed only to wallow in the mire. (2 Peter 2:17-22)

These are powerful words, and a powerful condemnation of these enemies of Christ who arose in the early church and are still turning up in the modern church like the proverbial bad pennies that they are.

Look at the way Peter describes them. They teach destructive heresies, the deny Christ Jesus, they follow licentious passions of the flesh, the boast in foolishness, they promise freedom but are slaves of corruption, and worst of all, they want to drag YOU down to their level by following them instead of listening to and following the truth in Jesus Christ.

We have to be aware and learn the truth for ourselves so that we are not led astray by these enemies of Christ who are false teachers. We must learn from Christ and from God, as they promised to teach us. Anything and everything we hear in church we need to check and test against the truth of the scripture to ensure it is correct and not being twisted out of context for some nefarious purpose

These false teachers are destructive and destroyers in the church; wolves in sheep’s clothing. This brings me to another group who are as foul, if not fouler if that is even possible.

Antichrists

Often when Christians hear the word “Antichrist” they think of one of two things.

Either they think the name refers to the man of sin who will be revealed as the “Antichrist” in the last days, or they think of someone who is so obviously evil that they oppose all that Christ stands for, for example, a devil worshipper.

Now, while these two examples certainly are Antichrists and are enemies of Christ, they are not the only ones, and even more, they are not the insidious Antichrists that the devil is using to destroy the church where and if he can.

There are many Antichrists in the world today and there were many in the early church as we see in the words of the Apostle John.

18 Children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come; therefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out, that it might be plain that they all are not of us. (1 John 2:18-19)

John shows us the insidious nature of these antichrists, because they were Christians as “…they went out from us…” But these people chose to reject Him and become enemies of Christ to go their own way. And worse, they dragged others down with them, taking people away from the truth of Jesus Christ to a false gospel. In fact, in my opinion, I believe the false teachers that Peter describes in 2 Peter 2 quoted above, are probably Antichrists as described by John.

The thing that distinguishes these people as Antichrists is that they take the place of Jesus Christ and deny Him His rightful place.

22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. (1 John 2:22)

There are ministers in the church today in some places who are doing exactly the same as these early Antichrists did…and they don’t even know it!

How do you deny the Father and the Son? By standing in the place that they should rightfully occupy.

Jesus Christ is the head of the church, and in the church He has appointed a group or groups of Apostles and Elders to lead and guide the church. But Jesus is ALWAYS the ONLY head of the church.

But what we see in some of the modern churches are men who have established themselves as the head of the church and so have usurped the position that belongs to Christ alone.

Every church should be governed on earth by a group of Apostles and/or Elders. Not just one person, but a group of co-equals in the position of Eldership in the church. And all their decisions must be put to the Lord in prayer, seeking His guidance so that they can decide on matters pertaining to the church according to His will.

Any church that has a single man at the head is not structured according to the ways the Lord established but is an Antichrist structure. And where there is a single person as the leader of a church, they are vulnerable to being taken over and possessed by the Spirit of Antichrist who will wreak destruction in the church.

If you are in such a church, my advice is to get out quickly. If you happen to be the sole leader of a church, then my advice is to appoint a body of Elders to help you run the church, not as subordinates, but as co-equals with equal authority and decision-making ability in the church.

These are just three examples that come to mind of the issues raised by Paul in this scripture in Philippians 3 that I am looking at today. There are others, but these will suffice to give us a stark warning to ensure we watch over our own salvation and seek the truth at all times.

Your salvation is between you and Christ. Others may help you learn and see things, but it is up to you to ensure what you are learning is the truth, that it aligns with the truth of the scriptures and that it is not some false teaching from false teachers or Antichrists designed to bring you into bondage after Christ has set you free.

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Contrasting Gospels
Many Antichrists
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Deception Of Empty Words