The subject of “Seducing Spirits” is evaluated at length when considering the qualities of an excellent servant from the perspective of biblical writers. The subject of spiritual seduction centers upon the falling away of people from the faith. To understand apostasy, it is necessary to define it and recognize its predictability, chronology, source, character, and teachings. To grasp the meaning of it as profound error, apostasy has a common thread of misunderstanding and denial around the goodness of creation and God’s desire for gratitude and worship.
Long ago, during the growth and development of the early church, Paul warned Timothy about people who would leave the faith (1 Tim 4:1-3). In later times, without specificity, Paul characterized desertion by people who would become “devoted to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons.” People seduced away from the faith and who become devoted to false teaching are lured away by demonic spirits through the human agency of false teachers.
“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, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.” – 1 Timothy 4:1
People who become apostates will be lured away by deceitful and spiritually fierce predators (Acts 20:29-30) who desire to follow deceptive ideas about truth, God’s word, and the gospel. Some who leave the faith make an intentional effort to deconstruct learned principles and specifics concerning Scripture as revealed divine truth and doctrines of spiritual formation that represent the whole counsel of God.
Apostasy is expected as the Spirit has informed the prophets (Deut 13:12-15, 32:15-18, Dan 8:23-25). Where the specific cause is demonic deception, there is certain destruction to those who depart from the truth of God’s word and what He has revealed through the patriarchs, prophets, poets, and apostles. Christ Jesus also warned of people who would depart from the faith. There are very many who will choose to abandon their faith or who will be led away.
| Identity of Apostates | Reference |
|---|---|
| “For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. “ | Matthew 24:5 |
| “For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.” | Mark 13:22 |
| “Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction” | 2 Thessalonians 2:3 |
| “knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.” | 2 Peter 3:3 |
| “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” | 1 John 2:18-19 |
There is a certain condition and trajectory of people who eventually fall away from the faith. The characterization of people who lose faith and abandon the “word of the kingdom” (gospel) is given by Christ Jesus’ explanation of His parable of the sower (Matt 13:18-23). To fulfill prophetic utterance, Christ spoke in parables about many subjects, but His parable of the sower has significant meaning about the states in which people have the word of the kingdom stolen from them, choked out, or pressured away by hardship and persecution.
Characteristics of people who receive God’s word and accept and understand it are those who bear fruit according to individual potential. All other conditions by which the word of the kingdom is received reveal an absence of understanding, shallow-rooted acceptance by the hardness of heart, and the possession of worldly distractions that remove further ability to yield fruit. The word of God heard and understood is meant to bear fruit within a person saved by faith. It is not by happenstance that Jesus spoke of the parable of the weeds (Matt 13:24-30, 36-43) after the parable of the sower (Matt 13:1-9, 18-23) to warn that apostates shall be gathered by the angels and thrown into the “fiery furnace” (Matt 13:42). The loss of faith among people who encounter the word of the kingdom isn’t only by circumstance. There is malevolent intentionality against fields of people who would receive and accept seeds of the kingdom and bear fruit as evidence of salvation.
Jesus spoke of the parable of the weeds to verbally illustrate the presence of Satan (powers of demonic deception), who implants tares (Matt 13:25) among seeds that bear the fruit of wheat. For the ultimate glory of YHWH, the Lord lets the wicked temporarily remain among people of faith and believers while there is risk and occurrence of deception and apostasy. The Lord’s people of the kingdom are retained by understanding and faith while there are demonic influences present among them with evil intent. People who succumb to distractions, hardships, the choking out of the Word, and false teaching will eventually apostatize to bear status as tares or weeds, which are gathered, bound up in bundles, and burned.
In the latter times of this church age initiated by the messianic era, apostasy is to be expected. During this period, people susceptible to false doctrines or contradictions to the truth of God’s word become lured away. More specifically, while the Holy Spirit guides believers into truth (John 16:13), deceitful spirits and false teachers lead people into error. Even in a church or spiritually pure context, the “doctrines of demons” are carried and spread by human agents who communicate lies (1 Tim 4:2). The errors people commit by thoughts, words, and actions are measured by the standard of what God reveals in Scripture. Contradictions to the Word of God originate from a spirit of error (1 John 4:6) compared to those who listen to the spirit of truth. Specifically, the Apostle John wrote to inform the church that those who listen to him by what he spoke and wrote are those who know God and are from Him. Refusal to listen to God’s biblical writers constitutes the error of apostates.
The spirit of apostasy is evident throughout scripture. Both in the Old and New Testaments, people who stop listening to God, or contradict His word, are those who no longer follow Him in truth. Examples of apostatized people throughout old and new covenant history who set their course do so from a posture of disobedience as they are often seduced away from faith and relationship with God toward His kingdom interests. To see who apostates were and how they became distant and alienated from God, it is helpful to understand how and why they were seduced to correlate the same outcomes among believers today. To both guard your heart and mind and warn people of false teaching, it is of utmost necessity to remain close to God’s word and the doctrines originating from the biblical writers.
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