ARE THOSE WHO ARE DECEIVED HELD RESPONSIBLE?
(Matt 15; Luke 6)
I’ve battled with this thought for a while. There is more to the Bible, and to the Gospel, then what the modern church teaches and practices. Will the congregation of pastors in error be held accountable for their ignorance?
In two different Gospels, we have Christ referring to “the blind leading the blind”. In Matt 15, He’s clearly placing pharisees as the blind leading. They taught commandments of men while ignoring God’s instruction. The second group of the blinded are those who follow the first while ignoring God’s instruction.
Think about this. There is a vast number off teachings today that are NOT Biblical. There are means and measures used by the church to bring a person to “salvation” in which not a single person in the Bible was brought to salvation in that way; nor was the ways used or taught. Some are aware of this, some are not. Some who are aware, continue to follow the tradition of man, just because it’s what’s accepted or they think it works. There is a way that seems right to man; but that way leads to destruction (Prov 14:12; 16:25). Those same people will go to the Bible and pull Scripture from context and try to join it with non-related Scripture to justify the teaching or practice; and they completely misuse the Bible. This is a contrast to a pastor who is in error but rightly searching Scripture to see the truth of God.
If we are leaders who teach tradition, rather than the whole of Scripture and instruction from God, and whether we are aware of it and justify it or whether we don’t search the Scripture to see truth - FACT IS - we are the blind leaders.
If we are congregation members who follow tradition and the modern teaching of man that do not align with Scripture; and we don’t care to take time from the pleasures of this world to actually study Scripture or pull passages from context (often guided by the blind pastors) to justify our beliefs and actions, we are the blind being led.
The problem is, because we really don’t know the Bible, in the context of God, we feel completely fine in our salvation and our actions. Ignorance is bliss, right? Wrong. Christ said that both blind will end up in the ditch. Will a person, who is deceived, not make it to Heaven?Absolutely, they will not make it. Think about all the warnings of people who will THINK they are safe but will not make it. If that person is following tradition rather than God’s instruction while not caring enough to learn how to Study Scripture and not caring enough to take the time to actually see God’s Word to us, that soul is in danger. This is confirmed by God Himself through Christ. Look at the list of multiple warnings to avoid being deceived and ask the question, “Is it dangerous if I allow myself to be deceived?”
1 John 4:1; 2 Tim 3:13; Eph 6:11; 2 Cor 11:13-14; 1 Tim 4:1; 1 Cor 6:9-11; Rev 12:9; James 1:22; Matt 7:15; 1 Tim 6:3-5; 2 Peter 2; Rom 16:17-18; Acts 20:29
The question may arise, “Are we not all deceived at a certain level?” The answer to that is YES. How then will anyone go?
Imagine that your headed out of the country and you have a couple of very important projects that need to be done. You have a list of protocols of how you want them handled and you hand that over to two different employees, Joe and Mary, to get them accomplished.
Mary saw this project as very important and reviewed the list of protocols on a regular basis to make sure she are getting this job done in a manner which you desire. Upon completion of the project, Mary failed. She did the very best she could, but some of the instructions seemed confusing to her. Even though it was confusing, Mary pressed onward trying to get the project done.
Joe, on the other hand, believed it was an important project but they had ball games, family events, and all kinds of personal things that was hindering them from putting full concentration into the project. A couple other employee told Joe what he needed to do and what the list of protocols were. Joe remembered those couple things on that list so he decided to put full trust in the employees who he was talking to and do it the way they said. This got the project done quickly but Joe completely failed at it since he did not see enough concern or take the time to review the list.
Yes, we will be in error but how important is a relationship with God to you? We are given a couple parables on how important He is suppose to be along with examples of the importance of following the instructions He’s provided for us. We have The Pearl of Great Price and the Lost Treasure parable (Matt 13:44-46). The “all that he had” that was sold by the men is everything this world has to offer - notice Christ said “ALL he had”. Are we willing to part with the comforts and pleasures of the 70 year average we have here for the eternity there (Matt 19:16-21)? In Luke 14:26 Christ tells us that a true pursuit of Him will cause the world to think we hate our father, mother, children, even our own lives; because that is what it will look like to them. Do we have this appearance to the world or do we drop the things, and will, of God for the pleasures of this world? In Matthew 8:22, Y’shua makes a cold statement to not even bury their dead father. Let the sinners bury the father while we follow God and His will. What do we allow to interfere with the work of God?
We must be honest here. I believe we are all guilty to a point. There’s different levels of our placing worldly things before God. Yet, I find that the majority of those in the church, will cancel a chance to make a difference in the life and soul of another so that they can go ride a motorcycle, go to a game, run trails in 4X4’s, watch TV and sports, and the likes.
I set in my life that I would give God an equal amount of time (or more) than what I give myself. It has not taken long, but I found that what my heart desires as pleasure has changed with putting God first. I have a long way to go but that’s just it... we must keep pressing forward and not allow ourselves to “relax” in the pleasures of this world while ignoring God’s will on the most part. Set a goal that is moving towards God. Set a goal that you will learn to Study the Bible. Then set a goal and time to Study it.
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