Standing firm against hypocrites speaking lies from a seared conscience

by Mike Ratliff

1 Τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ῥητῶς λέγει ὅτι ἐν ὑστέροις καιροῖς ἀποστήσονταί τινες τῆς πίστεως προσέχοντες πνεύμασιν πλάνοις καὶ διδασκαλίαις δαιμονίων, 2 ἐν ὑποκρίσει ψευδολόγων, κεκαυστηριασμένων τὴν ἰδίαν συνείδησιν, (1 Timothy 4:1-2 NA28)

1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times  some will depart from the faith,  giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 in hypocrisy of ones speaking lies, having been seared in their own conscience, (1 Timothy 4:1-2 translated from the NA28 Greek text)

I have made clear what all Christians’ stance should be on homosexuality here. That stance is biblical and any attempt to soften, change, or redirect it has as its source the father of all lies and enemy of our souls. I am sure all reading this here in April of 2015 are aware of the “human rights” crisis that was “manufactured” around the Indiana state government passing a bill that is nearly identical to that which exists in 21 other states and is also on record in the Federal Government which became law during the Clinton administration. Yes, this law simply says that a person’s religious convictions cannot become subject to that of the state or another group, etc. In other words it simply supports the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Notice the part in bold. That being said, we live in a time in which Liberal activists demand tolerance for everyone, that is, everyone except Christians who have a conscience bound to the Word of God, who refuse to violate that conscience simply because society or the government demands “tolerance” for that which the Word of God says is evil. These Liberal activists demanding tolerance reveal their real selves when they become totally intolerant of those who are not going to violate their consciences bound to the Word God even if it costs them everything, even death. History is replete with examples of this.

1 Τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ῥητῶς λέγει ὅτι ἐν ὑστέροις καιροῖς ἀποστήσονταί τινες τῆς πίστεως προσέχοντες πνεύμασιν πλάνοις καὶ διδασκαλίαις δαιμονίων, 2 ἐν ὑποκρίσει ψευδολόγων, κεκαυστηριασμένων τὴν ἰδίαν συνείδησιν, 3 κωλυόντων γαμεῖν, ἀπέχεσθαι βρωμάτων, ἃ ὁ θεὸς ἔκτισεν εἰς μετάλημψιν μετὰ εὐχαριστίας τοῖς πιστοῖς καὶ ἐπεγνωκόσιν τὴν ἀλήθειαν. 4 ὅτι πᾶν κτίσμα θεοῦ καλὸν καὶ οὐδὲν ἀπόβλητον μετὰ εὐχαριστίας λαμβανόμενον· 5 ἁγιάζεται γὰρ διὰ λόγου θεοῦ καὶ ἐντεύξεως. (1 Timothy 4:1-5 NA28)

1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith giving heed to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 In hypocrisy of ones speaking lies, having been seared in their own conscience, 3 forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from foods, which God created for partaking with thanksgiving by the believers and ones having known the truth. 4 Because every creation of God is good and nothing is to be rejected with thanksgiving being received; 5 for it is being sanctified through the Word of God and intercession. (1 Timothy 4:1-5 translated from the NA28 Greek text)

I want to focus on the noun” hypocrisy” that translates ὑποκρίσει in the passage above, which is the dative, singular case of ὑπόκρισις or hupokrisis, “(figuratively) deceit (“hypocrisy”): – condemnation, dissimulation, hypocrisy.” Hypocrisy is pretending to act one way while secretly acting in a different (often the opposite) way. For example, Jesus’ enemies pretend they want to learn something from him by asking him a question, but their true intent is to find reason to arrest him and put him on trial (Mark 12:15; Matthew 23:28). Jesus called this sort of hypocrisy “the yeast of the Pharisees” (Luke 12:1).

Let us be honest and true to what Sacred Scripture says and, therefore, not hypocrites. To compromise what God’s Word says for the sake of post-modern “values” such as what Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt, Brian McLaren, or any other “so-called Christian leader” who is leading the way in “affirming” homosexuals as Christians not required to repent of their sin, are teaching another religion, another “version of Christianity” not genuine Christianity at all. What they are doing fits this warning by Paul to Timothy exactly. These people have departed from the faith giving heed to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons. What they teach as “truth” is done in hypocrisy of ones speaking lies. They have that straight face when they do it because their conscience has been seared.

You have been warned. For those of you who have considered this sort of discernment work as being mean or divisive, et cetera, I am not apologizing. The passage I just gave you was from Paul’s own hand and in other places he even gives the names of those to the church in warning. Flee from all who teach what is not clearly taught in God’s Word. Turn from all who teach that God wants each of you to be more concerned about offending someone instead of leading them to the Cross of Christ. Post-modernist thinking and political correctness is the noise that confusing the distracted in our time. Oh Lord, wake up your Church!

Soli Deo Gloira!