LIES OF SATAN

As we know Satan is the father of lies, so what are some of the lies that he tells us, and unfortunately we believe.

1. The first and probably most important one is that prayer is not important. Prayer too often is just a blip on the horizon for a lot of churches, but when we read the scriptures we find that the New Testament Church prayed daily and Paul told us to devote ourselves to prayer. What is it that we know that the New Testament Church did not know that makes us think we don’t need to pray when they prayed daily?

2. Next is the idea that tradition carries more weight than scripture. Most of what the church does today did not happen in the New Testament Church. It has been invented and built on down through the centuries and now we don’t even recognise or acknowledge anything that the New Testament Church did.

3. How this for deception. The fact that denominations are of the Lord. Yes, that’s right; I have seen that in print many times. Despite the fact that splits are condemned in the New Testament. That fact that we believe this lie means that 99% of the time we never talk to our fellow saints unless they are ‘like us’.

4. Another one that is so off the mark it is unbelievable that it has got any traction. I refer to the belief in the priesthood of the few which denies the priesthood of all believers which is the only priesthood recognised and acted on in the New Testament.

5. One of the most destructive deceptions is that ritual is a good and acceptable substitute for the power of the Holy Spirit. Whether the Holy Spirit is present at most meetings doesn’t matter as we can provide all that is needed to given a warm fuzzy feeling to those who are in attendance.

6. Giving a person a title somehow makes them superior to the rest of the crowd. Being a reverend, a pastor, a father, a bishop, an archdeacon, a senior pastor is usually achieved through devotion to the denomination and its traditions. This means that you will be promoted up the ranks if you show your loyalty and say all the right things. This of course is a complete lie as the scriptures clearly show that the way down is the way up. The qualification for leadership is servant hood, not man’s approval.

7. Another lie is that we are not a church unless we have a building that costs millions of dollars. The church in the New Testament was people who were devoted to one another and met in homes for meals, fellowship, prayer and teaching. It was this that made them such a powerful force in society and convinced so many to put their faith in the Messiah and not a building in sight.

8. One lie that Satan has been good at is that we have to be docile and ineffectual if we are going to present an acceptable profile to the world. The New Testament Church didn’t go out of its way to be offensive, but if the civil authorities tried to stop them being who they were, they virtually told them where to go and try and stop us. Their only authority was God and their only law was the law of the spirit of life.

9. What about this for a lie. The important thing about church is that we have to fill our time with programmes to keep everyone happy. The New Testament Church only had one programme and that was to meet together and meet each other’s needs.

10. Finally, but I don’t mean that there isn’t a lot more, the lie that most of the money we raise has to be spent on our organisation. The New Testament Church raised money for the needs of the poor and for establishing new churches. None was spent on buildings and salaries because no one was paid to be a Christian in the New Testament Church. Money was used to support apostolic ministries whilst they were travelling to places to preach the good news and establish a church, but once they were at their destination they worked and supported themselves. Apart from them no one else was financially supported.