Paul wrote this about the prominence of deception in the last days in 1 Timothy 4:1, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared.” “Teachings,” of course, come to us through words that our adversary twists to further his deception of the saints.
Notice the reference to seared consciences. The medical term “cauterize” comes from the Greek word for “seared.” Medically, it refers to destroying tissue to stop bleeding. Spiritually, it refers to a loss of sensitivity to the truth that makes one easily deceived by the “teachings of demons.”
We see this in the world; we all know someone so entrenched in the spirit of this age that they have become incapable of receiving the truth. We cannot have a conversation with them apart from being subject to untrue accusations.
Sadly, this same deceptive spirit has crept into the church via a relentless attack on the words of Scripture that has “seared” the receptivity of many to the truth, especially in the area of biblical prophecy. Once our adversary has successfully attacked truth in the area of future things and this has given him an opening to attack Biblical texts related to morality and even the Gospel.
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