Have you noticed how many lies there are in the world? I ran into one this week that I hadn’t heard for decades, Armstrongism. This “brand” of Armstrongism is called the Reformed Church of God (RCG). There are a few of these spin-off groups from Herbert W. Armstrong’s Worldwide Church of God (originally The Radio Church of God), but this is the newest I’ve seen.
Like most cults, Armstrongism denies the Trinity, the bodily resurrection, and salvation by grace. The RCG has a little different spin on the Trinity, though. They believe God is a binity where God is only two Persons, the Father and the Son, and all people who have ever lived can become a part of the godhead.
That’s just one of the lies with which Satan has filled the earth. There are a plethora of lies out there but only one Truth: If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Rom. 10:9)
Satan’s lie is your spiritual choices are a sort of buffet selection. You can take what you want and leave the rest. Jesus says there is only one way:
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)
Some of Satan’s lies sound almost biblical and can draw people away. I spoke with a widow of a Baptist pastor who was about to join the Watchtower Organization. She had been to Bible College where she was trained to study the Bible, yet she didn’t apply what she had learned to what the Jehovah’s Witnesses were telling her. She called me when I had my ministry in California and asked me to talk with her before she was baptized into the organization.
She told me the Witnesses had shown her all these things in Scripture that contradicted everything she used to believe. “But, what they said was right there in Scripture. How could I deny what they were telling me?”
We spent a while going over the passages they had shown her and the passages they hadn’t that put those in context. She began to cry over her deception, cancelled her book studies with the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and started looking for a Bible-based church.
If there are lies out there that can convince even a Bible school graduate, the widow of a Baptist pastor, a woman who had heard the gospel for years, if there are lies that can convince her, there are lies that can convince many of us who are unprepared.
Yes, there are lots of lies out there, lots of paths leading to destruction, but there is only one Truth. We need to know the Truth so well, we can easily spot a lie, a counterfeit.
I learned a long time ago truth is consistent. Falsity is not. So, if we find contradictions in some worldview, religion, new idea someone is presenting to us, we can know it’s not true. Many of Satan’s lies are not easily discerned, though. They are often quite convincing.
Why is this important?
God’s peace protects us. His peace comes from knowing Him and the Truth of His Word.
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Phil 4:7-9)
As Christians, we need to keep our hearts and minds on God. But what of the lost? How can they be protected? That’s where we come in and the Spirit that lives in us. It is our commission to go and tell people of the Truth, of the worldview that does not contradict reality. The Truth of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 