Enemies of Truth
Enemies of the Truth
1. Appeasement To conciliate or pacify by making a sacrifice of a moral or spiritual principle.
* The world made this mistake with Hitler, then with Communist Russia, and so on. In the churches it only allows evil or rebellion the time it needs to put down roots, and spread and affect more people, making more difficult and painful the work of cleansing, discipline and correction that must inevitably be done anyway. Nothing is gained by appeasement, and in the long run more is lost.
2. Compromise To come to an agreement by concession or consensus; yielding; or conceding.
* This is the idea of democracy, the will of the majority, but it is not set forth in the Bible as a Scriptural pattern to follow. There was no voting or ceding to the consensus, but rather an earnest seeking of the will of God, which must be done even though all are not in agreement. The Scriptures teach us to be of one mind, but not to give in to a majority vote. The majority does not have a good track record in the Bible, yet man often finds comfort in the fact that others are of the same opinion as him, rather than being strong enough to stand for what the Bible says even if no one else agrees.
3. Expediency Subordination of a moral or spiritual principle, for the sake of facilitating an end.
* Epitomized in the worldly wisdom that says, “the end justifies the means”. The implication is, whatever makes the church grow in numbers must be good, and therefore we must accept it”. Overlooking or contextualizing the teachings of Scriptures is responsible for departure from the form of sound words which the Apostles charged us to hold fast.
* The world made this mistake with Hitler, then with Communist Russia, and so on. In the churches it only allows evil or rebellion the time it needs to put down roots, and spread and affect more people, making more difficult and painful the work of cleansing, discipline and correction that must inevitably be done anyway. Nothing is gained by appeasement, and in the long run more is lost.
2. Compromise To come to an agreement by concession or consensus; yielding; or conceding.
* This is the idea of democracy, the will of the majority, but it is not set forth in the Bible as a Scriptural pattern to follow. There was no voting or ceding to the consensus, but rather an earnest seeking of the will of God, which must be done even though all are not in agreement. The Scriptures teach us to be of one mind, but not to give in to a majority vote. The majority does not have a good track record in the Bible, yet man often finds comfort in the fact that others are of the same opinion as him, rather than being strong enough to stand for what the Bible says even if no one else agrees.
3. Expediency Subordination of a moral or spiritual principle, for the sake of facilitating an end.
* Epitomized in the worldly wisdom that says, “the end justifies the means”. The implication is, whatever makes the church grow in numbers must be good, and therefore we must accept it”. Overlooking or contextualizing the teachings of Scriptures is responsible for departure from the form of sound words which the Apostles charged us to hold fast.
4. Fear: A dread of something unpleasant, which can cause people to take measures to avoid the unpleasant.
* Fear can cause a person to avoid truth. "The fear of man bringeth a
snare" (Prov. 29:25). Truth has consequences and some of those
consequences are not pleasant and can be dangerous. Usually, folks
instinctively know what potential consequences would result from
seeking, knowing, accepting, and proclaiming truth.
These
consequences can be summed up like this – fear of loss: loss of
friends, family, reputation, job (security), opportunity, protection
(vulnerability to prosecution and persecution), and loss of life
(physical death). Fear paralyzes and erects a huge barrier to truth.
5. Sentimentalism:
is having or showing tender, gentle or delicate feelings in an
excessive, superficial or maudlin way (maudlin means foolishly or
tearfully sentimental).
*Being sentimental means being influenced by emotion rather than reason
and acting from feeling rather than from practical motives (see
Webster’s New World Dictionary).
Lawrence Blanchard wrote: "If truth about a lot of things is ever going
to be discovered, one must first take personal responsibility to
objectively find out what the Bible says and means. And learn to see the
world as it is and not through sentimental eyes. Be compassionate, but
hold it in check by biblical truth and objective reason. Let the Bible
be your guide – not your emotions." Feelings are not a reliable guide
concerning truth, and may in fact blind us to it. People have strong
feelings for family and traditions, and these may impede them from
thinking objectively about truth.
"Let God be true, and every man a liar" (Rom. 3:4).
