Fake Ministers Pushing a Fake Christ

FAKE MINISTERS PUSHING A FAKE CHRIST

Pastor Mike here.

I want to read you a passage on beguilement.

Beguilement is just a big word for deception.

The serpent beguiled Eve in the Garden of Eden.

And it’s really what we’re talking about when people conveniently leave out part of the Scriptures and insert their own ideas in the place of God’s.

THE SERPENT BEGUILED EVE IN THE GARDEN

And so I’m reading from 2 Corinthians chapter 11.

The Apostle Paul is dealing with false apostles beguiling the Church – fake ministers pushing a fake Christ.

And so here we go with 2 Corinthians 11:1.

Paul writes…

¹ I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! ² For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. ³ But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning (it’s beguiled in the King James Version),  

And let’s just take a moment and remember that time back in the Garden of Eden where God had said that Adam and Eve could eat from all the trees of the garden except one – the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And then the serpent came and beguiled Eve.

He deceived Eve.

And he spoke to her.

He presented her with other information apart from what God had said.

Actually questioning what God had said, saying to Eve, “Did God actually say that you shouldn’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?”

And now Paul is writing in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 to the church at Corinth where he’s concerned that this very thing is happening with these fake ministers pushing a fake Christ.

WE ARE BEING BEGUILED JUST LIKE 2 CORINTHIANS 11

And so reading verse 3 again…

³ But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. ⁴ For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. ⁵ Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles (those are the fake ministers pushing a fake Christ) – Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles.

⁶ Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things. ⁷ Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God’s gospel to you free of charge? ⁸ I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. ⁹ And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way. ¹⁰ As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. ¹¹ And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

¹² And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. ¹³ For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. ¹⁵ So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.

And let’s just stop right there.

And so again, the Apostle Paul is dealing with false apostles beguiling the Church – fake ministers pushing a fake Christ, just like the devil deceiving Eve in the Garden.

And let me just close by saying, we are being led astray and away from the simplicity of the Gospel, away from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ, we are being beguiled just like 2 Corinthians chapter 11 talks about when people conveniently leave out part of the Scriptures and insert their own ideas in the place of God’s and then want us to buy into it.