“Satan Himself is Transformed Into an Angel of Light”
By: Brian A. Yeager

    (II Corinthians 11:10-15) “As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia.  Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.  But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”  In the opening text of this article Paul is writing of the deception that Satan is capable of in posing as a worker of righteousness and comparing that to those who would pose as sheep when they are really wolves.  Our Lord warned us of the same thing.  (Matthew 7:15) “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”  The ultimate question would be; how do we identify these pretenders?

    We can identify those who would employ false identity as teachers of truth while being false teachers by trying them.  John wrote by inspiration: (I John 4:1) “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”  The Lord stated: (Matthew 7:20) “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”  The Apostle Paul warned the Ephesian elders that some would even rise up among them in this false way (Acts 20:28-30).  Once we have identified one who is a wolf in sheep’s garments we must not ignore such a thing, but expose them to warn others about their true identity.  Paul in writing to the church at Rome told them to mark those who would cause such divisions and offences contrary to the truth because of their ability to deceive the hearts of the simple (Romans 16:17-18).

    In conclusion, the church from the first century till this very day have and will face these workers of darkness appearing as workers of light.  Brethren need to study God’s word and be ready to answer these false things that come our way (II Timothy 2:15 and I Peter 3:15).  Then we can use the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17), to do the right thing.  (Jude 21-23) “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.”

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“Fluffy” Words
By: Brian A. Yeager

    I was reading my e-mail one afternoon and came across one in which someone stated that they thought a preacher was liberal because he continued to use “fluffy words”.  The preacher that was accused of using only “fluffy words” was one that taught on things in which no one would be offended.  First of all, to know God you must know love for God is love (I John 4:8).  Second of all, our God of love has a book called that Bible that he authored in which he has a lot of words that are not so fluffy.

    We are in a war fighting the good fight of faith (I Timothy 6:12, I Timothy 1:18, Jude 3, and II Timothy 2:3-4).  Christians are fighting Satan (Ephesians 6:10-17).  War is not a pretty thing.  Why do we fight?  We fight because we defend the faith the word of God (Jude verse 3).  Our fight is not one of destruction but saving (Matthew 18:11).  To go into war and hate not the enemy is to die an unprepared suffering death.  How did David feel about Goliath?   (I Samuel 17:26) “And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”  Brethren, we are not fighting a fight of love, we are fighting against the wiles of the devil.  We are against the world.  We are in the Lord’s army.  We need to be appropriately dedicated to the cause of Christ.   (Matthew 22:37) “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”  Again, we must love, speak the word in love (Ephesians 4:15), but the goal of this article is to supply us with biblical fact that we cannot preach ONLY love.  We can call things as they are.  We need to allow the cards to fall where they may.  We must say what we mean and mean what we say.  We should act as oracles of God (I Peter 4:11).

    Was Christ a soft-spoken, liberal minded; accept them as they are no matter what kind of Savior?  How about us looking at some quotes: (Matthew 12:33-34) “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.  O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”  (Matthew 23:19-28) “Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?  Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.  And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.  Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.  Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.  Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.”  The quotes are from the greatest lover of all times.  He loved enough to lay down his life a ransom for all mankind (Isaiah 53:1-12).  This man was Christ, the son of the living God.  This man pleased God, and God instructed us to hear him (Matthew 17:5).  Love is telling someone they are wrong when that someone may be wrong.  Love is the Gospel.

    Yet, there are those that abuse love.  They teach love as a non-corrective forgive all things kind of love.  Reader, that is not love, that is cruel.  We are told to: “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (II Timothy 4:2).   If we follow God’s word we are to correct, correct harder, and uplift.  That is the totality of preaching the word.  In our day and age there is a whole lot of correction needed prior to a fluffy word or two.  We are told to go and preach (Mark 16:15-16), not make the lost be “feel good” hell-bounders.  Paul asked the Churches of Galatia if he had become their enemy because he spoke the truth to them (Galatians 4:16).  How true it is that we need to consider those words.  If a Christian is afraid to have enemies then he should not be a Christian as we are promised we will be hated just as Christ was (John 15:18-19).  Let’s not love people to death; let’s love them enough to help them live eternally.

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BETRAYED

Friend, I stand in judgment now
And feel that you're to blame somehow,
On earth, I walked with you day by day,
And never did you point the way.

You knew the Lord in truth and glory
But never did you tell His story,
My knowledge then was very dim,
You could have led me safe to Him.

Yes, I know He'd made the earth,
But I knew not of the second birth,
And now I stand this day condemned,
Because you failed to mention him.

You taught me many things that's true.
I called you "friend" and trusted you,
I learn now that it is too late,
You could have saved me from this fate.

We walked by day and talked by night,
And yet you showed me not the light,
You let me live, and love an die,
And knew I'd never live on high.

Yes, I called you "friend" in life,
And trusted you through joy and strife,
And yet on coming to this end,
I cannot now call you "my friend."
Author Unknown: