Among the sheep in God’s flock, there are those that tend to be more vociferous – baa baaing and bleating to the annoyance of the other sheep. It’s often difficult to tell when there’s really a clear and present danger of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. How can one discern if in fact there is a wolf among us? What tell-tale sign might one detect? Of course, Christ’s metaphorical language speaks of a spiritual danger. Our over-active olfactory senses are of no use in this arena.
But the Elect are equipped with the weapons needed, not only to detect, but also to confront and overcome. The weakest Spirit-filled and led saint is more powerful than all the hosts of hell combined. Yes, the victory is won and Christ, our victor and king is on His throne. It is comforting to have God’s word and Spirit to guide us into all truth. Jesus is truly all we need. He is our Way, He is our Truth and He is our Life. We need not look any further than our Shepherd. Those that are His know His voice and they follow Him (Jn 10:4).
So, why then, are so many Christians living defeated lives? Unfortunately, for many, they either do not hear His voice, or are not following Him – or both. We are told that, “His sheep hear Him and follow Him. The apostle Paul also tells us to be led by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16). When we run ahead, however, we cease to follow, we also cease to listen. It is here we become most vulnerable. Like the sheep that runs ahead and gets lost, we too find ourselves open to lying spirits, the enticements of the world and the lusts of our lower nature. In most cases, we are simply led into believing that it’s ok to love the world and the things of the world. Now to be more specific, let’s look at how we are being led – by “those in sheep’s clothing”, and what this looks like. They are are among us. They look like us, talk like us, say the right things, act in a way that would not cause alarm, but rather, would cause us to trust them – and would provide us many good reasons why we should trust them.
When we consider who our enemy is, we immediately think of Satan and his host of demon spirits. In spiritual reality, however, our enemy is tri-fold: the devil, the world, and the flesh. We become deceived, when we listen to lying spirits, are enticed by the things of the world and crave the desires of the flesh. When we see the church leadership loving the things of the world and loving money we are led to believe it’s alright. We have become accustomed to being led by those who are as deceived as we are. Be very clear on this point – those that are leading us astray are among us – not only among us, but leading us in the present apostasy.
And we were forewarned. To the church at Ephesus we read in Rev 2:4, “But this I have against you, that you have left your first love. Remember where you have fallen, repent, and do what you did at first”. Somehow, the church at Ephesus got side-tracked and stopped following Jesus. To the church at Pergamum, we read in Rev 2:14, 15, “But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
Here we have two means of spiritual deception. First, there’s, “the teaching of Balaam”, or “the Doctrine of Balaam”. Balaam taught Israel to sin through worldliness, immorality and idolatry (Numbers 22:15-17, Numbers 25:1-3). Balaam corrupted Israel by his suggestion that the Moabites should invite the Israelites to their pagan feasts. This led the Israelites to worship their gods with all the attendant immorality. In this way Israel was led into spiritual adultery – much like the church today is led into spiritual adultery and idolatry in it’s love for money and the things of the world.
James 4:3,4: You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?
The apostle John in Rev. 2:15 specifically names a contemporary example: the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
Not much is known about the Nicolaitans. Commentators have varying opinions on who or what the Nicolaitans were or represented. The term is actually two words fused together. First, Nico, meaning, lording it over, or having power over, and laitans, meaning the laity, the common people, or more precisely, our congregations.
Eugene Peterson, in his translation of Matt 23:6-10, in The Message, writes:
they love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions, preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called ‘Doctor’ and ‘Reverend.’ “Don’t let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. Don’t set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of ‘Father’; you have only one Father, and he’s in heaven. And don’t let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them — Christ.
Matthew Henry in his commentary on 2 Thess 2, interprets,
While the apostles were yet living, the enemy came, and sowed tares; there were then the deeds of the Nicolaitans, persons who pretended zeal for Christ, but really opposed him. Pride, ambition, and worldly interest of church-pastors and church-rulers, as in Diotrephes and others, were the early working of the mystery of iniquity.
Regarding the antichrist, who is this antichrist? Is he the Emperor Domitian, the Gnostics, Nicolaitans, Nazareans, Cerinthians, Romish pontiffs, etc., etc.? Answer: Any person, thing, doctrine, system of religion, polity, etc., which is opposed to Christ, and to the spirit and spread of his Gospel, is antichrist. We need not look for this imaginary being in any of the above exclusively. Even Protestantism may have its antichrist as well as Popery. Every man who opposes the spirit of the Gospel, and every teacher and writer who endeavours to lower the Gospel standard to the spirit and taste of the world, is a genuine antichrist, no matter where or among whom he is found.
And so, we have varied descriptions and fore-warnings of the wolves in sheepskin – the deceivers of the church lulling us into believing all is well. I can assure you, dear Christian, all is not well. Many in our churches are not being led by the Spirit of Christ, but are being spiritually deceived. But as these deceivers are mere men, I don’t believe they’re aware that they are not only deceiving, but are, themselves, being deceived by Satan, the master deceiver. The end is not yet – but the body of Christ needs to wake up and realize that we are being duped into believing that money gives us true wealth. In our quest for financial success, we’ve become materialistic idolaters.
Here are ten ways to identify the deceived and deceiving leaders in your church:
1. They have gained your trust by telling you they are trained academically to be your spiritual leader. They’ve graduated from seminary (a place supposedly instituted to train individuals to do God’s work). They have all the credentials to prove it, like an “MDiv.”, or the title of “doctor of theology”. This is not to say all pastors with academic credentials are deceivers, but if this is the authority they rest on, and not the gifting of Christ, it’s a clear sign of deception.
2. They love money and show it by expecting a salary that affords them their overly comfortable lifestyle and often live in homes in upper class neighbourhoods. They love to hob-nob with “the rich and famous” of the congregation, knowing that’s where the real money is. So, they regularly ask you for over 10 percent of your gross income, as “tithes and offerings” and say it’s “giving to God”. Interestingly, the teaching of tithing is found nowhere in the New Testament. Church leaders guilt their parishioners into tithing so they can fund their ecclesiastic hierarchy. The system is not only unscriptural, but has the earmarks of an evil conspiracy.
3. They never preach on immorality – it may offend someone. They defend themselves by calling it flexible morality, being culturally sensitive, or disguise their lax attitude toward sinful lifestyles as “accepting everyone”; of course, Jesus met with sinners, but he also said, “go, and sin no more”.
4. They never preach on scripture that refer to hell or damnation – again so they won’t offend. The cost of this error is immense. Imagine how many church-goers find themselves in the afterlife with the terrible realization that they aren’t going to heaven, as they thought. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven – Matt 7:21
5. Although they say they spend time in prayer, you never see them at the weekly prayer meeting, nor do they ask you to attend. Paul E Billheimer, in his short literary gem, Destined for the Throne, writes “any church without a well-organized and systematic prayer program is simply operating a religious treadmill”. I wonder how many of our churches are just that?
6. They regularly take time off so they “won’t get burned out”. If they are truly led by Christ, His Spirit will be their driving force and energy. “be strong in the Lord and in His mighty strength” – Eph 6:10,11., “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength” – Isaiah 40:31. Additionally, they insist they should not have to work outside of the church because God has called them to “full-time ministry”. Many small churches, especially in rural areas, can’t afford to pay a pastor so they often flounder. If a man is called to be a pastor, this is a gifting by Christ. It is not an occupation and does not necessarily come with a pay-cheque. Obedience to a calling should not be dependent on how much you get paid.
7. They never personally associate with the poor, nor do they evangelize. One of the most important teachings of Christ is to lovingly care for those in need.
“… ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ “Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” – Matt 25:44-46
8. They are more interested in programs and projects that increase the size of their congregation and hence the size of their coffer, than in being led by the Spirit.
9. Although many in the congregation are demonized, they never cast out demons. You see, they can pretend to be spiritually empowered, but when faced with one that is demonstrably demonized, they don’t know what to do.
10. They love the things of the world, they don’t hate sin, or put Christ first in their lives, nor do they care if their congregants are any different, in fact, they encourage and condone loving the things of the world.
Additionally, we must be alert to the enemy’s schemes. One of his most effective strategies is in placing men and women in leadership roles who are ill-suited. Many young Christians believe they are called into “full-time ministry” upon graduating from high school or college. They see being a pastor as a fun and easy profession. The bible, however, clearly tells us the calling of pastors is not for young men and women, but for the older men who have been spiritually matured by a life of being led by the Spirit: an elder in the church. The calling of pastor is also not meant to be a paid position, nor is it one where the training comes from an outside institution, but by being mentored from within the local assembly.
What a damning accusation on many of our church pastors. If ever there was a post that pained me to write, it is this one. I wish pastors would read their Bibles without their pastor-glasses on. Furthermore, they should ask themselves, “What would Jesus do?”
Martin Luther was truly enlightened in leading the church out of the darkness of Roman Catholicism – the truth of our justification being faith in Christ alone and not of works, was a magnificent turning point for the Church. But he stopped short. He should have abandoned their ecclesiastic hierarchy as well.
Just as true believers fled the newly instituted Romish church after Christianity became the state religion in the fourth century, we too must now flee from those who are lulling us into spiritual apostasy – those who bear the marks of the Nicolaitans.
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