Lies Bated With Partial Truths

Beware! From the time the devil succeeded in deceiving Eve in the Garden of Eden, he has been using partial truth to appeal to the human intellect. When Satan tempted Eve in the Garden he enticed her with a partial truth. But what he said was not ALL TRUE.

It was true that God did know that in the day she and Adam would eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, their eyes would be opened and they would obtain knowledge of both good and evil. That part was all very true! (Up to that point they had only knowledge of good and knew nothing about evil.) But the part that was NOT TRUE was his statement, “Ye shall not surely die.” (See Gen. 3:4-5.)

It is the same today with the false “security” doctrine Satan has promoted by alluring men’s minds into an unbalanced and slanted interpretation of scripture. It IS TRUE that no man can pluck the Christian out of God’s hand. As Paul says in Rom. 8:38-39, “I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Yes, IN GOD, OUR SALVATION, WE ARE SECURE! But here is where the devil has made his catch! Along with the above truth, he has added this falsehood: neither shall SIN be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord! THIS IS THE PART THAT CONTRADICTS WHAT GOD SAID! It is an outright lie from the very father of lies! The sly old deceiver is still tricking people into believing they can disobey God’s Word (commit sin) and not die. He is deceiving them into believing they can be in Christ, partaking of His eternal salvation, and at the same time continue sinning, because grace covers their sins. This is an absolute deception and falsehood! The modern church world is plagued with this heretical teaching, and that is, no doubt, part of the reason so many present-day churches are in the demoralized condition they are in. Sadly, most can now openly violate the teachings of God’s Word on many lines and go right on professing the name of Christ, having a name to live while dead (Rev. 3:1).

God’s Word is still just as true as when He spoke it: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Ezek. 18:20a. “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” Isa. 59:1-2. Sin separates man from God. God cannot fellowship sin or sinners. Man must be cleansed and made free from sin through the holy blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, in order for God, who is absolutely holy, to fellowship him. Anyone who is out of fellowship with God and His holiness because of sin is in a state of spiritual death. This includes any once-saved Christian who has backslidden from the holiness and righteousness of Jesus Christ and returned to a life of sin. There is no such thing as a “sinner saved by grace.” NO such phrase is found ANYWHERE in divine scripture! All sinners who receive God’s grace in Christ become saints by virtue of that very grace. Any saint who falls from that grace becomes a sinner and since no sinner is saved, such a one is under the condemnation of death – the wages of sin. The idea that Christians can sin and yet remain free from the wages of sin is one of the worst fallacies in the realm of modern Christendom! Don’t ever believe that lie for a moment! What does the Word of God say? “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.” Gal. 2:17-18. “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God.” 2 John 9a. Again, whoever does not have God does not have salvation, for only God is our salvation.

Why should anyone ignore or refuse these plain teachings from God’s Word? In Psalm 119 we also read: “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven” (verse 89) … “I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me” (verse 93) … “Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live” (verse 116a) … “Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statues” (verse 118a) … “My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments”(verse 120). Jesus said, “… the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” John 12:48b. Also, “I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” Matt. 12:36-37. “And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.” Matt. 7:26-27. “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” James 1:22. The list of like scriptures goes on and on!

An old hymn says, “By thy Word we stand or fall, by thy Word we live or die; If by part and not by all, Then we make thy Word a lie.” Man shall live “by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4b; see Deut. 8:3), not by just a selected portion. The devil has, from the beginning, sought to call people’s attention to some portion of God’s Word in order to get them to ignore, neglect, or disobey some other portion. The devil even did this to Jesus when he tempted him to jump off the pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem. The devil said to Jesus, “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.” Matt. 4:6. Here, the devil was quoting from Psalm 91:11-12. (The devil knows the scriptures well, and he knows how to use them for his agenda.) But Jesus didn’t fall for it! He came back at the devil quoting from Deuteronomy 6:16, saying, “It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Oh, that people today would respect the whole Word of God like Jesus did! When the devil comes along quoting his pet scriptures, putting a false slant on the Word, trying to convince them it is impossible for them to lose their salvation, and that transgressing God’s Word does not really bring spiritual death to their souls because they have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, they ought to take a deeper look and tell the devil what “is written again.”

There is nothing wrong with Psalm 91:11-12. But God never intended that passage to inspire anyone to believe it is safe to jump from a roof and trust Him to counteract the law of gravity. Likewise, there is nothing wrong with John 10:28-29. But neither did God intend that passage to inspire anyone to believe it is safe to sin and trust Him to counteract the law of spiritual death that is associated with sinning.

Sadly, multitudes today are willing to console themselves in what they want to believe while they close their eyes and their minds to the scope of whole truth. Of course, the devil is right there to console them with a false sense of security by quoting them scripture with a slant that leads them in “a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Prov. 14:12). Like, for example, the woman I heard of who wanted to steal – the devil helped her to find just the support scripture she needed – “All things are yours” (1 Cor. 3:21b). It means much to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Tim. 2:15. Along with our “study” we must have the illumination of the Spirit of truth, who alone can guide us into all truth (John 16:13). Only the Spirit of God, who inspired the written Word of God, can guide the human mind into its proper interpretation and how to compare spiritual things with spiritual (1 Cor. 2:13-16). It is the Holy Spirit who gives us the “mind of Christ,” and only in His light can we properly see light (Psalm 18:28; 36:9). Therefore, it is vitally important that we have our hearts in tune with the Spirit of truth as we study the Word of truth that we might understand its proper application. Without Holy Spirit guidance, we are all sure to miss the mark when it comes to rightly dividing and understanding and applying the Word of truth.

Paul said, “…Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” 2 Cor. 11:14. One of Satan’s greatest delights is directing human minds into some unbalanced or wrongly slanted understanding of scripture, while at the same time making it “seem” so right! While God is constantly monitoring and weighing the thoughts and intents of all our hearts, remember the devil is too! He’s just looking for a chance to lead you off-course or to get you lopsided on one point, or another. If he sees some degree of self-will, stubbornness, or dishonesty in your heart he knows he has something to work with. We must be very honest and open to God’s Word and Spirit lest we be deceived.

The devil knows very well that the Holy Spirit is God’s seal whereby He seals His own, (2 Cor. 1:21-22; Eph. 1:13-14; 4:30), and that the very “unction” of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling in the human soul “teacheth you of all things” (1 John 2:20, 27; John 14:26; 16:13-14) and imparts to you “the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:12-16) as well as the “image” [character and holiness] of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 3:18). The mind of Christ and the image of Christ, especially, are what the devil seeks to prevent people from ever attaining to; therefore, he does everything possible to divert their minds into some channel of unbalanced doctrinal dogma. Without the real “seal” of Holy Spirit anointing in our hearts and minds, he can make any of those areas seem right to us. Following are a few examples of unbalanced doctrinal dogmas the devil lures people into:

In some of the most extreme cases, the devil has lured some into thinking that Mark 16:17-18 authorizes “snake handling” as a sign that they are true believers, or spiritual persons. Then the devil has lured others into believing that the evidence of possessing the Holy Spirit is speaking in unknown tongues. He has a special list of scriptures whereby he persuades them to make “tongues” the focus of their religion rather than the possession of the Holy Spirit Himself. (And along with that focus he has a counterfeit spirit for them that will never impart to them the holy character of Jesus.) But for others he has another special list of scriptures whereby he convinces them that by the keeping of the Old Testament law and Sabbath they are sealed of God. So they make the observance of the seventh day the pivotal point and focus of their religion. And thus focused, they fail to comprehend the true Sabbath of the gospel, of which the Old Testament Sabbath was but a type and a shadow [see Col. 2:16-17; Heb. 4:1-11]. Then for others the devil has set aside a special arrangement of scripture passages to persuade them that a believer’s salvation is secured by the act of water baptism, so that becomes their focal point. Even though they realize no actual attainment of holiness in heart and life, and acknowledge they still sin more or less from day to day, yet they base their soul’s security and hope of eternal life upon the fact that they have obeyed the scriptural command to be baptized. And in like manner the devil has put together a special list of scriptures to convince others that, because they have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, grace covers all their past and future sins, therefore they are secure and can never lose their salvation even though they expect to, and do, continue to sin. But in each case people miss the true mark! Once they adopt any of these unbalanced notions as pivotal points of their religion, they ride them like a hobbyhorse, or revere them like a sacred cow, and are usually unwilling to apply the entire scope of the teachings of God’s Word to the props with which they bolster them. If only they would do that, the props would fall in every case, and a true and balanced perspective of the scriptures could be attained. But too often, if you dare to put any of these particular strongholds of doctrinal idolatry on trial, you are viewed as a vile blasphemer in the eyes of whoever is making that particular fortress their refuge. They will view you as one who is fighting and opposing the truth – one who is attacking their security! But personally, I am not afraid to weigh any doctrine, or the spirit connected with it, in the balance of the Word of God, nor am I afraid of what anyone may think of me for doing so. Some of the most popular religious leaders of Jesus’ time thought He had a devil because He violated what seemed so sacred to them. From their perspective, who but a vile sinner would dare to tell a man to pick up his bed and walk on the Sabbath day? Nevertheless, Jesus showed them the true balance of God’s Word.