SPIRITUAL WARFARE: THE ENEMY’S WEAPONS
PART ONE * by Chris Hohnbaum
In this day and age we are plagued with all kinds of different beliefs and heresies being introduced into the Church. Jesus warned us not to overlook the pulpits for false teachings and heresies. We are told in 2 Tim 3:16 “Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness.” Each teaching must fall in line with the word of God; the Bible. The Bible is the word of God, and is the standard we are to follow. It is the word of God that is the sword. We fit our lifestyles to the word of God, not the word of God to our lifestyles. We see this happening throughout the world and even Christian Churches are changing the word of God and twisting the Scriptures (2 Peter 3:16) to fit their own desires.
In the battle of spiritual warfare we find that deception is the greatest weapon that Satan uses upon mankind. The hardest battle to fight is the one against half-truths. People will hold only to the true parts and ignore the falsehoods. An example of Satan’s deception of a half truth occurs in the beginning of history in the Book of Genesis. In Chapter 3 we find the following: Genesis 2:17 “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” In this verse we find God giving Adam instructions and telling him that if he eats of the tree of Knowledge that Adam will die. What Satan does in the following chapter is he gets both Adam and Eve to question the word of God, Genesis 3:3-4 “but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:” Notice that Satan does not question what God said, but contradicts the outcome of disobedience to Gods word.
We find this same deception taking place today; people question the word of God. Mormonism teaches that the word of God (The Bible) cannot be trusted, that it is translated wrong. The Bible is translated 98% correctly---we have Hebrew and Greek Lexicons if we want to go back to the ancient scrolls and translate them ourselves. We are commanded to study the word of God and to show ourselves approved (2 Tim 2:16). We are to be like the Bereans (Acts 17:11) and study the scriptures daily to prove whether these things are true or not.
As Christians, the belief that the word of God is inerrant (perfect), is foundational to our faith. Simply put, as great as God is---making the heavens, the stars, galaxies, the earth, trees, babies, animals etc.---why would one even think that God would be so inept that He couldn’t even protect His word from translation errors? Though I use a computer to send this information out to you, the author is still myself. In the same respect, while a pen writes the letter, the pen is not the author, the individual using the pen is. The Bible’s author is God; He used men to write it. God puts His word even above his Holy Name. That is how serious God is about his word (Psalm 138:2).
In spiritual warfare, the half-truths as shown in Genesis are very hard to combat. You must have the whole armor of God upon yourself to protect you and your family (Eph. 6). Mormonism is full of half truths. An example of this would be found in the “Articles of Faith” for the LDS Church. It states: 1. We believe in God the eternal Father, and in His son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.
Sounds Christian doesn’t it? But what this really means in Mormon-speak: God the Father was once a human man who earned his right to become a god through good works and adherence to the Mormon gospel on another planet. He now has a glorified body of flesh and resides with his many wives on a planet "nigh unto Kolob," fathering spirit children that will someday be born as mortal humans on this earth or another.
This is a deception in the belief of who God is and what the Mormons teach. Remember, faith is only as great as the object in which it is placed. In this case you are placing faith in several things. Mormons teach that Jesus is a created being, not the Creator. This contradicts what the Bible teaches us, that Jesus is God Himself incarnate (John 1). Mormonism teaches that Jesus is the Son of God, but a created son, one of three separate gods. Mormon beliefs are in a “Triune god” (the three gods of the godhead are one in purpose), not a Trinity God. So while the worlds sound the same, the deception is that of a false religion and a false god. The half-truth is that Jesus is the son of God. The false part is that he was a created being and the first born of spirit children (Mormon teachings). Therefore the battle is not that Jesus is the son of God, but the fight that he is God, not a created being!
As I stated earlier, eastern philosophies and heresies introduced into the church and the cults have distorted many of the teachings in the Bible. I exhort you all, hold fast to the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Bible, which is perfect. We are to follow the word of God, not the teachings of men;Psalm 118:8 “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.”
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