(We now present to you another article by our weekly guest-blogger, Kyle Frank)
Those who are of the household of God are well acquainted-or rather-should be well acquainted with the fact that there are “doctrines of demons” as referred to by the word of God. The Lord went through the trouble of warning us of the fact that there will be things taught under the heading of “scripture” that are in fact nothing but the language of Satan-lies. Jesus told us that when Satan speaks, he lies because he is the father of lies. He is also a murderer-not that he has actually physically killed anyone-that we know of, but, by his lies to Eve, and then Adam, he caused their deaths, as well as introducing death to each and every one of their descendants, in that they all have sinned. Actually, let me correct the last sentence because it, left to itself, is a lie. There is one of the descendants of Adam & Eve who was not killed by a lie, and mercifully, that one was Jesus Christ; son of man and Son of God. (Let me return to my subject at hand. I just get so delighted by the thought of the blessed Savior of man-and deadly opponent of the “Doctrine of Demons.”) In 1Timothy 4:1-3, we read: Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings (doctrine-ASV) of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,  who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. There are teachings which come from the evil one. These are often foisted off among the saints because the evil one tries to look like the saints. This can be seen in 2 Corinthians 11:13: For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. Having shown this, let us take a look at a couple of these insidious teachings.
The early church had to deal with the heresy of Gnosticism. Gnosticism was a perversion of the truth as taught by certain men who felt that they had “special” or “secret” knowledge that lifted them above the ranks of “ordinary” Christians. This poison has continued throughout history in different times and different places. Although this teaching was opposed by the apostles directly in the first century, it has resulted in various different false messiahs. An example of such in recent memory was Jim Jones in Guyana. David Koresh in Waco, Texas also had that “special knowledge” that only he felt he could dispense to willing and eager followers. Both, by the way, ended in death. Several hundred followers also were led into eternity in error. How much more demonic could one get?
Another form that developed was the doctrine that Jesus was “a” way, not the only way for man to be saved. This, of course, is in total opposition to what was taught by the Lord, where he said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6. Another doctrine which is from the very pits of perdition and is a variant of the above teaching says that another way to God can be found in such documents as the Koran, Hindu “scriptures” and what could be seen as any other writing which is, like above, “another way” to God. Apparently, according to these folks, we are all just one big happy family, all on the way to the same destination, just by a different route. We probably all have seen the giant billboard which declares: “Worship At The Church Of Your Choice!” That is another example of this particular distasteful teaching. Besides the different religions being a different way, a closer variant is that the various different denominations are all “branches of the same tree.” Apparently, the “Jehovah’s Witnesses” are just a slightly different way to the truth as the Lord’s church! Imagine that!! Is that distasteful to you as well? Now, apparently, we are bigoted if we have a problem with that! That is a doctrine of demons gone to seed. The land is full of such teachings. Now, can you imagine what would happen in the religious world if folks today saw things like they did in the time of the early Restoration Movement? The growth would be similar to as it was back in those days.
Again: “WORSHIP AT THE CHURCH OF YOUR CHOICE!!” How many multitudes believe that one church is as good as another? We face this when doing any sort of evangelism. Jesus was so adamant that there is only one way to God. We need to have the courage to love others enough to tell them that one church is not as good as another. It can be done-if we love others as Jesus loved us. It takes courage, but it also takes tact when teaching the gospel to others. One way is NOT as good as another. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. John 13:34. When we act as Jesus did, we will have the strength and love to overcome these evil teachings-which on the surface sound so good…but are so wicked in their fruits. Those fruits are death!!
-Kyle Frank