Mike Ratliff, continues to put the nail on the head in driving home our current state in the Visible Church.
My own observations are that we have a huge amount of sincerity in searching for the truth, but it’s often marketed as a new but false way.
Jesus remarked:
Mat 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Mat 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
One of the old Prophets wrote:
Jer 6:16 Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.
Jer 6:17 Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.
Seeking the Good but finding the False has been a problem from the beginning of time…
Gen 3:1-6 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 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.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Paul predicted it when he spoke to the Ephesian Elders:
Act 20:27 For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
Act 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Act 20:29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Act 20:31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.
In today’s world we have access to all sorts of information: though: books, audios, Videos, Podcasts, YouTube, Conferences, the Internet, Google, AI, ChatGPT, Grok are the latest. All can be helpful, but all don’t lead to the truth. One very common mistake is to see that bigger is better, success in numbers equals Truth. The Word Pragmatism describes that. Plus there are numerous words to describe how the deceptions are promoted.
I do agree with Mike, that almost no one wants openly to be deceived, and it’s also hard to admit that you have been when you are. We don’t worship the Golden Calf Aaron crafted, but we do have many Sacred Cows.
One last quote, from Old John Gill’s commentary on v14 which Mike dissected:
John Gill Ephesians 4:14 ending.
tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine; false doctrine, which may be compared to wind for its lightness and emptiness, and for its swelling and puffing nature, and for the noise and bluster it makes, and for its rapidity and force, with which it sometimes comes and bears all before it, and for its infectiousness, which is the nature of some winds; and to be tossed to and fro, and carried about with it, is expressive of much ignorance and want of a discerning spirit, and implies hesitation, and doubts and scruples, and shows credulity, fickleness, and inconstancy: and which is brought on
by the sleight of men; either through the uncertain and changeable state of things in life; the mind of man is fickle, the life of man is uncertain, and all the affairs of human nature are subject to change, by reason of which men are easily imposed upon; or rather through the tricking arts of false teachers; the word here used is adopted by the Jews into their language, and with them קוביא signifies the game at dice (a); and קוביוסטוס, is a gamester at that play, and is interpreted by them, one that steals souls (b), and deceives and corrupts them; and may be filly applied to false teachers, who make use of such like artifices and juggling tricks, to deceive the hearts of the simple, as the others do to cheat men of their money: hence it follows,
and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; or “unto the deceitful methods or wiles of the devil”, as the Alexandrian copy reads; which not only suggests that their principal end in view is to deceive, but their insidious, private, and secret way of deceiving, and their expertness in it, which they have from the devil; and now the ministration of the Gospel is the best and surest guard and antidote against such fluctuations and deceptions.
I would add to this study, that Words do matter. One of the reasons I use the KJV Bible is that it is a good translation of a good Greek and Hebrew Text. Mike does a good job himself with the Greek, but the KJV translators, as well as the earlier Tyndale and the Geneva Bible, and the work Gill did almost 300 years ago are also quite helpful.
If you wish to learn more about that and perhaps how subtle changes and deceptions have crept into even the world of the Bible, having at a minimum, sowed seeds of Confusion about the Infallibility and Sufficiency of God’s Word read the book I just finished.
Rainbow Trout 