Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
The verse foretells that in the later times some will fall away from the faith by heeding seducing spirits and devilish doctrines, uttering falsehood in hypocrisy with conscience hardened as if branded with hot iron, a present danger to be plainly exposed. To speak lies in hypocrisy is to put forth falsehood under a show of godliness and piety while the heart follows what Satan impresses on the mind, proclaiming self-righteousness to win confidence and draw away those without love for the truth. To have the conscience seared is to have it hardened, deadened and unfeeling like branded flesh, no longer warning of right and wrong or condemning wrongdoing until sacred things are treated as common and sin is no longer seen as sin. That hardening comes by repeatedly resisting the Holy Spirit's invitations, reproofs and warnings and by cherishing known sin and refusing known duty, each neglected appeal making the heart harder and less able to respond until perception wears away and transgression becomes habitual. The safeguard is to preach the Word and continue in the Scriptures known from childhood, which make wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus and furnish the man of God unto all good works.
Latter-Day Departure Foretold
The verse foretells that in the latter and later times some shall depart from the faith by giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy with conscience seared as with a hot iron. It describes people hardened until conscience no longer warns of right and wrong, uttering falsehood under a show of godliness, religion and piety. This is a present peril facing the church that must be plainly exposed and met by enlightening a perishing world.
That departure takes the form of Spiritualism, rejection of Christ as the Son of God, and opposition to God's law, in a condition where the authority of God is scarcely recognized. It is the work of those once convicted of the truth who resisted the influence of the Holy Spirit, chose their own standard, rejected the infallible standard of God's commandments by which they will be judged, and exalted human precepts against His law. Blinded by his sophistry they walk and work in partnership with Satan, the first apostate, joined to his ranks. Accepting corrupt teachings whispered by evil angels as messages from the spirits of the dead, they gratify carnal desires, despise Christ, virtue and holiness while pretending to be good, and give to Satan transformed as an angel of light the worship belonging to God alone.
Before the final apostasy there is confusion of faith with no clear ideas of the mystery of God, in which heavenly truth is corrupted truth by truth. Especially denied are the preexistence, divinity, miraculous incarnation, personal Saviourhood, and oneness with the Father from the beginning of Christ as the only-begotten Son of God by whom the worlds were made. Those who deny Him lose spiritual discernment, practice what Satan impresses on the mind, and open the way to accept fables of Satan's invention.
Those thus blinded turn the ear from truth and open the heart to the sophistries of Satan and arguments prepared by the synagogue of Satan. Turned away from a plain Thus saith the Lord into superstitious faith in every kind of apostasy, they are led into the terrible iniquity represented as being drunken with the blood of the saints. So they take their place in the final struggle against those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
Speaking Lies Under Pretense
Speaking lies in hypocrisy is uttering falsehood under a show of godliness, religion and piety while the heart practices what Satan impresses on the mind. It belongs to the latter and later times, to this particular time, when some depart from the faith by giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, with conscience hardened, deadened, and made unresponsive to right and wrong. The pretense is that of corrupt men in this age who pretend to be good while virtually despising and insulting the Son of God, trampling Christ under foot and despising virtue and holiness. The warning concerns a present danger to the church from false teachers who deny Christ and oppose God's law, reject His counsel, and mislead others so that their influence corrupts His work.
The false speakers proclaim their own righteousness and exalt themselves to gain confidence, win people to their side, and draw away those who have not received the love of the truth. This self-exalting influence dishonors God and causes His work, including the medical missionary work, to deteriorate. It grows out of confusion of faith in which there are no clear ideas of the mystery of God and truth after truth is corrupted, especially denial of the preexistence, divinity, miraculous incarnation, personal Saviourhood, and oneness with the Father from the beginning of Christ as the only-begotten Son by whom the worlds were made. Those who deny Him in this way lose spiritual discernment and accept fables of Satan's invention.
Self-deception deepens by repetition, for at first they do not believe what they assume themselves. They turn the ear from hearing truth and open the heart to the sophistries of Satan and to arguments prepared by the synagogue of Satan, misinterpreting Scripture, claiming to have received new light, entering by-paths, treating their theories as important, and repeating their own falsehoods to others. Every repetition confirms them until, inspired by satanic agencies, they finally believe a lie themselves while deceiving others, deceiving and being deceived.
The lying is Satan's work through human agents, for blinded by his sophistry they walk and work in partnership with him as the first apostate and join his ranks. They are pleased by low, corrupt teachings whispered in the ear by evil angels, which gratify carnal minds and desires, and they make themselves believe that what comes from Satan and hell comes from the spirits of the dead. In that blinded, deluded state, while pretending to be good, they give to Satan transformed as an angel of light and to his evil angels the worship that belongs to God alone. In the present time every phase of fanaticism presses in among believers and unbelievers, and Satan brings forward everything he can invent to seduce men and women by uttering falsehood while pretending truth, placing souls in positive peril and great danger of being seduced.
Seared Conscience Defined
To have the conscience seared with a hot iron is to have it hardened, deadened, made unfeeling and unresponsive to right and wrong, like flesh branded by iron. It is marred by sin as a convict is branded and defaced by a hot iron, seared and marred until it no longer warns and no longer condemns. Selfishness and sin leave it blackened and crisped, with the glowing fire of goodness never burning upon the altar of the heart. It can become dead and insensitive like skin seared with iron, dulled by continued sin until it is past feeling, silent, and no longer gives warning. Sacred things are then treated as common, and sin is no longer recognized as sin.
Conscience, even when sincere, can be warped and wrong, and sincerity does not make an action right. It must not be made to take the place of God's word, for consciences do not all harmonize and are not all alike inspired. What is needed is a well-instructed, good conscience, not one biased and warped by preconceived opinions or left poorly instructed. So a man may be conscientiously wrong as well as conscientiously right, as Paul was when he did not believe in Jesus of Nazareth and hunted Christians from city to city while verily believing he was doing service to God.
Conscience is the voice of God heard amid the conflict of human passions, and when it is resisted the Spirit of God is grieved. The condition of the moral affections determines the worth of the man. Property and intellect leave him valueless without true goodness, and wealth cannot make him truly worthy when goodness is absent from the heart. That goodness is what Heaven counts as true greatness.
How Conscience Is Seared
A conscience is seared by repeatedly resisting the invitations, reproofs and warnings of the Holy Spirit, with each neglected appeal making the next admonition harder to obey until the heart grows harder and less impressible. As with Pharaoh, who by rejecting the first light and every following ray went from one degree of hardness to another, God compels no one to sin but the sinner destroys himself by his own impenitence, while conscience, the voice of God heard amid the conflict of human passions, is grieved and resisted until it becomes terribly hardened. Professing devotion and using sacred truth as a cover for corruption while serving sinful desires belongs to this same hardening through persistent sin and resistance.
Cherishing known sin, repeatedly refusing known duty, and long violating right principles harden the conscience and obscure reason, until spiritual perception wears away and transgression becomes habitual. Long practice in one's own way can bring this searing even upon those in authority, who impose human laws and restrictions on others while disobeying God's law and find neither peace nor security. Repeated sin against great light and knowledge can stifle the conscience until it no longer reaches a callous heart and is unresponsive to conviction. This condition is found even among those who preach, through cherishing known sin and violating conscience over time, marked by selfishness, covetousness, pride, strife and hard-heartedness, and without thorough reformation such unholy, unsanctified state will bring disaster upon God's people, so that they need reformation or should leave the ministry.
Neglecting to cherish light and walk promptly in its rays leaves the heart hardened, and repeated neglect of prayer and Bible study with repeated resistance to the Spirit's pleading sears the conscience and makes it unresponsive. Even small and repeated wrongs do this work, as when people repeatedly take small things that do not belong to them, treat the practice as harmless, and defiantly refuse correction and restriction, until conscience loses sensitivity to right and wrong and transgression is treated as no sin. Repeated disregard of right principles even in little things dulls moral feeling until grievous sins such as stealing, deception, lying and adultery no longer seem offensive, and indulgence makes people less responsive to the Spirit and less able to receive correction, so that words calling to reform are not heard or understood.
Sensual vice, intemperance, indulgence of perverted appetite, and unhealthful food that stupefies the conscience darken the mind and weaken its ability to respond to impressions. Such indulgence blunts fine sensibilities and weakens moral discernment, unbalances the mind, strengthens animal propensities, enervates character, draws from one wrong step to another into enslavement to sin, and weakens moral restraint into readiness for crime. After conscience has been thus abused through vice, sin no longer appears so sinful, a state reached by young people trained and educated in vice and widespread in higher schools. Deceptive influence sears in the same way, as when corrupt teachings whispered by evil angels that gratify carnal desires are accepted as messages from the spirits of the dead, while Christ, virtue and holiness are despised under pretense of goodness and worship belonging to God alone is given to Satan transformed as an angel of light. Professed Christians by example make harmful pleasures appear harmless until the young stifle conviction and continue into vice without hesitation to degrade themselves, familiarity with sin blunts sensibility and awareness of eternal things, and presenting error alongside truth further confuses minds and weakens the sense of truth's sacredness. So also those who profess to serve God but do no work in His vineyard, bear no burdens, and remain idlers and driftwood with no increasing love for God and truth, refuse the yoke of meekness and lowliness, have only a form of godliness without fruit-bearing, and have moral perception dimmed and perceptive powers departed so that though ears still hear truth they cannot perceive it.
Consequences and Safeguard Given
A conscience made insensible by repeated violation does not lessen guilt or excuse wrongdoing. Even when unhealthful food stupefies the conscience, darkens the mind and weakens response to impressions, the loss of sensitivity leaves the transgressor still guilty. Persistent indulgence can sear discernment until grievous wrongs no longer appear offensive, appetite damages health, unbalances the mind, strengthens animal propensities and leads into further sin, while the wrongdoer excuses the course by claiming no moral wrong has been done. Those who no longer recognize sin as sin may influence others to treat sin lightly, but the judgment will reveal their unfaithfulness and the true character of their actions.
A conscience seared by selfishness and sin becomes blackened, crisped and hardened, with the fire of goodness no longer burning on the altar of the heart. The condition of the moral affections determines human worth, so property, wealth and intellect leave a person valueless without true goodness, which alone counts as true greatness. When lust of the flesh and evil passions of the carnal nature are permitted to rule, passion rules reason and impulse rules principle, self-control is weakened, warnings have no effect because need is not felt, and skepticism about the realities of the Christian religion is encouraged with doubts expressed as though doubting were a special virtue. Continued vice and indulgence of perverted appetite blunt fine sensibilities, weaken moral discernment and restraint, enervate character, draw from one wrong step to another into enslavement to sin in crime and wickedness, and leave a readiness for crime. Youth who reject God's word and ruin their souls show this hardened, morally insensitive state.
The influence corrupts the church's work through lies spread under a show of piety by those who reject counsel, seek self-exaltation and mislead others, and through a self-exalting influence that dishonors God and causes medical missionary work to deteriorate. Cherishing known sin and repeatedly violating conscience hardens it even among those who preach God's word, and without thorough reformation their unholy, unsanctified state marked by selfishness, covetousness, pride, strife, hard-heartedness and other evil practices will bring disaster upon God's people, so they need thorough reformation or should leave the ministry. Those who profess to serve God but do no work in His vineyard, like the second son who said I go, sir, but went not, bear no burdens, cooperate not with those doing God service, and remain idlers and driftwood with no increasing love for God and the truth. Their hardened heart dims moral perception and departs perceptive powers so that though ears still hear truth they cannot perceive it, and by refusing the yoke of Christ and His meekness and lowliness, having only a form of godliness without becoming fruit-bearing branches of the vine, they become stumbling blocks in the way of sinners, with less hope than the publican and sinner.
The verse foretells a latter and later time, which is the present time, when some fall away from the faith by giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils through lying hypocrisy with consciences branded, deadened and unfeeling, a condition in which God's authority is scarcely recognized and the mystery of iniquity works with deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. This departure appears as Spiritualism and other deceptions now appearing, spread by those who turn ears from truth and open the heart to sophistries and arguments prepared by the synagogue of Satan, who at first do not believe what they assume but by misinterpreting Scripture, claiming new light, entering by-paths, treating theories as important, and repeating falsehoods until every repetition confirms them, finally believe a lie themselves while deceiving and being deceived under satanic inspiration. Against this the safeguard is to preach the Word and put the brethren in remembrance of these things as a good minister nourished in faith and good doctrine, thereby enlightening a perishing world and plainly exposing the peril. Continuing in the things learned and assured of, knowing from whom they were learned, and holding the Holy Scriptures known from childhood, which make wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus and, being inspired by God, are profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness to make the man of God perfect and furnished unto all good works, is the appointed defense.
The verse foretells that in the later times some will fall away from the faith by heeding seducing spirits and devilish doctrines, uttering falsehood in hypocrisy with conscience hardened as if branded with hot iron, a present danger to be plainly exposed. To speak lies in hypocrisy is to put forth falsehood under a show of godliness and piety while the heart follows what Satan impresses on the mind, proclaiming self-righteousness to win confidence and draw away those without love for the truth. To have the conscience seared is to have it hardened, deadened and unfeeling like branded flesh, no longer warning of right and wrong or condemning wrongdoing until sacred things are treated as common and sin is no longer seen as sin. That hardening comes by repeatedly resisting the Holy Spirit's invitations, reproofs and warnings and by cherishing known sin and refusing known duty, each neglected appeal making the heart harder and less able to respond until perception wears away and transgression becomes habitual. The safeguard is to preach the Word and continue in the Scriptures known from childhood, which make wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus and furnish the man of God unto all good works.
Latter-Day Departure Foretold
The verse foretells that in the latter and later times some shall depart from the faith by giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy with conscience seared as with a hot iron. It describes people hardened until conscience no longer warns of right and wrong, uttering falsehood under a show of godliness, religion and piety. This is a present peril facing the church that must be plainly exposed and met by enlightening a perishing world.
That departure takes the form of Spiritualism, rejection of Christ as the Son of God, and opposition to God's law, in a condition where the authority of God is scarcely recognized. It is the work of those once convicted of the truth who resisted the influence of the Holy Spirit, chose their own standard, rejected the infallible standard of God's commandments by which they will be judged, and exalted human precepts against His law. Blinded by his sophistry they walk and work in partnership with Satan, the first apostate, joined to his ranks. Accepting corrupt teachings whispered by evil angels as messages from the spirits of the dead, they gratify carnal desires, despise Christ, virtue and holiness while pretending to be good, and give to Satan transformed as an angel of light the worship belonging to God alone.
Before the final apostasy there is confusion of faith with no clear ideas of the mystery of God, in which heavenly truth is corrupted truth by truth. Especially denied are the preexistence, divinity, miraculous incarnation, personal Saviourhood, and oneness with the Father from the beginning of Christ as the only-begotten Son of God by whom the worlds were made. Those who deny Him lose spiritual discernment, practice what Satan impresses on the mind, and open the way to accept fables of Satan's invention.
Those thus blinded turn the ear from truth and open the heart to the sophistries of Satan and arguments prepared by the synagogue of Satan. Turned away from a plain Thus saith the Lord into superstitious faith in every kind of apostasy, they are led into the terrible iniquity represented as being drunken with the blood of the saints. So they take their place in the final struggle against those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
Speaking Lies Under Pretense
Speaking lies in hypocrisy is uttering falsehood under a show of godliness, religion and piety while the heart practices what Satan impresses on the mind. It belongs to the latter and later times, to this particular time, when some depart from the faith by giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, with conscience hardened, deadened, and made unresponsive to right and wrong. The pretense is that of corrupt men in this age who pretend to be good while virtually despising and insulting the Son of God, trampling Christ under foot and despising virtue and holiness. The warning concerns a present danger to the church from false teachers who deny Christ and oppose God's law, reject His counsel, and mislead others so that their influence corrupts His work.
The false speakers proclaim their own righteousness and exalt themselves to gain confidence, win people to their side, and draw away those who have not received the love of the truth. This self-exalting influence dishonors God and causes His work, including the medical missionary work, to deteriorate. It grows out of confusion of faith in which there are no clear ideas of the mystery of God and truth after truth is corrupted, especially denial of the preexistence, divinity, miraculous incarnation, personal Saviourhood, and oneness with the Father from the beginning of Christ as the only-begotten Son by whom the worlds were made. Those who deny Him in this way lose spiritual discernment and accept fables of Satan's invention.
Self-deception deepens by repetition, for at first they do not believe what they assume themselves. They turn the ear from hearing truth and open the heart to the sophistries of Satan and to arguments prepared by the synagogue of Satan, misinterpreting Scripture, claiming to have received new light, entering by-paths, treating their theories as important, and repeating their own falsehoods to others. Every repetition confirms them until, inspired by satanic agencies, they finally believe a lie themselves while deceiving others, deceiving and being deceived.
The lying is Satan's work through human agents, for blinded by his sophistry they walk and work in partnership with him as the first apostate and join his ranks. They are pleased by low, corrupt teachings whispered in the ear by evil angels, which gratify carnal minds and desires, and they make themselves believe that what comes from Satan and hell comes from the spirits of the dead. In that blinded, deluded state, while pretending to be good, they give to Satan transformed as an angel of light and to his evil angels the worship that belongs to God alone. In the present time every phase of fanaticism presses in among believers and unbelievers, and Satan brings forward everything he can invent to seduce men and women by uttering falsehood while pretending truth, placing souls in positive peril and great danger of being seduced.
Seared Conscience Defined
To have the conscience seared with a hot iron is to have it hardened, deadened, made unfeeling and unresponsive to right and wrong, like flesh branded by iron. It is marred by sin as a convict is branded and defaced by a hot iron, seared and marred until it no longer warns and no longer condemns. Selfishness and sin leave it blackened and crisped, with the glowing fire of goodness never burning upon the altar of the heart. It can become dead and insensitive like skin seared with iron, dulled by continued sin until it is past feeling, silent, and no longer gives warning. Sacred things are then treated as common, and sin is no longer recognized as sin.
Conscience, even when sincere, can be warped and wrong, and sincerity does not make an action right. It must not be made to take the place of God's word, for consciences do not all harmonize and are not all alike inspired. What is needed is a well-instructed, good conscience, not one biased and warped by preconceived opinions or left poorly instructed. So a man may be conscientiously wrong as well as conscientiously right, as Paul was when he did not believe in Jesus of Nazareth and hunted Christians from city to city while verily believing he was doing service to God.
Conscience is the voice of God heard amid the conflict of human passions, and when it is resisted the Spirit of God is grieved. The condition of the moral affections determines the worth of the man. Property and intellect leave him valueless without true goodness, and wealth cannot make him truly worthy when goodness is absent from the heart. That goodness is what Heaven counts as true greatness.
How Conscience Is Seared
A conscience is seared by repeatedly resisting the invitations, reproofs and warnings of the Holy Spirit, with each neglected appeal making the next admonition harder to obey until the heart grows harder and less impressible. As with Pharaoh, who by rejecting the first light and every following ray went from one degree of hardness to another, God compels no one to sin but the sinner destroys himself by his own impenitence, while conscience, the voice of God heard amid the conflict of human passions, is grieved and resisted until it becomes terribly hardened. Professing devotion and using sacred truth as a cover for corruption while serving sinful desires belongs to this same hardening through persistent sin and resistance.
Cherishing known sin, repeatedly refusing known duty, and long violating right principles harden the conscience and obscure reason, until spiritual perception wears away and transgression becomes habitual. Long practice in one's own way can bring this searing even upon those in authority, who impose human laws and restrictions on others while disobeying God's law and find neither peace nor security. Repeated sin against great light and knowledge can stifle the conscience until it no longer reaches a callous heart and is unresponsive to conviction. This condition is found even among those who preach, through cherishing known sin and violating conscience over time, marked by selfishness, covetousness, pride, strife and hard-heartedness, and without thorough reformation such unholy, unsanctified state will bring disaster upon God's people, so that they need reformation or should leave the ministry.
Neglecting to cherish light and walk promptly in its rays leaves the heart hardened, and repeated neglect of prayer and Bible study with repeated resistance to the Spirit's pleading sears the conscience and makes it unresponsive. Even small and repeated wrongs do this work, as when people repeatedly take small things that do not belong to them, treat the practice as harmless, and defiantly refuse correction and restriction, until conscience loses sensitivity to right and wrong and transgression is treated as no sin. Repeated disregard of right principles even in little things dulls moral feeling until grievous sins such as stealing, deception, lying and adultery no longer seem offensive, and indulgence makes people less responsive to the Spirit and less able to receive correction, so that words calling to reform are not heard or understood.
Sensual vice, intemperance, indulgence of perverted appetite, and unhealthful food that stupefies the conscience darken the mind and weaken its ability to respond to impressions. Such indulgence blunts fine sensibilities and weakens moral discernment, unbalances the mind, strengthens animal propensities, enervates character, draws from one wrong step to another into enslavement to sin, and weakens moral restraint into readiness for crime. After conscience has been thus abused through vice, sin no longer appears so sinful, a state reached by young people trained and educated in vice and widespread in higher schools. Deceptive influence sears in the same way, as when corrupt teachings whispered by evil angels that gratify carnal desires are accepted as messages from the spirits of the dead, while Christ, virtue and holiness are despised under pretense of goodness and worship belonging to God alone is given to Satan transformed as an angel of light. Professed Christians by example make harmful pleasures appear harmless until the young stifle conviction and continue into vice without hesitation to degrade themselves, familiarity with sin blunts sensibility and awareness of eternal things, and presenting error alongside truth further confuses minds and weakens the sense of truth's sacredness. So also those who profess to serve God but do no work in His vineyard, bear no burdens, and remain idlers and driftwood with no increasing love for God and truth, refuse the yoke of meekness and lowliness, have only a form of godliness without fruit-bearing, and have moral perception dimmed and perceptive powers departed so that though ears still hear truth they cannot perceive it.
Consequences and Safeguard Given
A conscience made insensible by repeated violation does not lessen guilt or excuse wrongdoing. Even when unhealthful food stupefies the conscience, darkens the mind and weakens response to impressions, the loss of sensitivity leaves the transgressor still guilty. Persistent indulgence can sear discernment until grievous wrongs no longer appear offensive, appetite damages health, unbalances the mind, strengthens animal propensities and leads into further sin, while the wrongdoer excuses the course by claiming no moral wrong has been done. Those who no longer recognize sin as sin may influence others to treat sin lightly, but the judgment will reveal their unfaithfulness and the true character of their actions.
A conscience seared by selfishness and sin becomes blackened, crisped and hardened, with the fire of goodness no longer burning on the altar of the heart. The condition of the moral affections determines human worth, so property, wealth and intellect leave a person valueless without true goodness, which alone counts as true greatness. When lust of the flesh and evil passions of the carnal nature are permitted to rule, passion rules reason and impulse rules principle, self-control is weakened, warnings have no effect because need is not felt, and skepticism about the realities of the Christian religion is encouraged with doubts expressed as though doubting were a special virtue. Continued vice and indulgence of perverted appetite blunt fine sensibilities, weaken moral discernment and restraint, enervate character, draw from one wrong step to another into enslavement to sin in crime and wickedness, and leave a readiness for crime. Youth who reject God's word and ruin their souls show this hardened, morally insensitive state.
The influence corrupts the church's work through lies spread under a show of piety by those who reject counsel, seek self-exaltation and mislead others, and through a self-exalting influence that dishonors God and causes medical missionary work to deteriorate. Cherishing known sin and repeatedly violating conscience hardens it even among those who preach God's word, and without thorough reformation their unholy, unsanctified state marked by selfishness, covetousness, pride, strife, hard-heartedness and other evil practices will bring disaster upon God's people, so they need thorough reformation or should leave the ministry. Those who profess to serve God but do no work in His vineyard, like the second son who said I go, sir, but went not, bear no burdens, cooperate not with those doing God service, and remain idlers and driftwood with no increasing love for God and the truth. Their hardened heart dims moral perception and departs perceptive powers so that though ears still hear truth they cannot perceive it, and by refusing the yoke of Christ and His meekness and lowliness, having only a form of godliness without becoming fruit-bearing branches of the vine, they become stumbling blocks in the way of sinners, with less hope than the publican and sinner.
The verse foretells a latter and later time, which is the present time, when some fall away from the faith by giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils through lying hypocrisy with consciences branded, deadened and unfeeling, a condition in which God's authority is scarcely recognized and the mystery of iniquity works with deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. This departure appears as Spiritualism and other deceptions now appearing, spread by those who turn ears from truth and open the heart to sophistries and arguments prepared by the synagogue of Satan, who at first do not believe what they assume but by misinterpreting Scripture, claiming new light, entering by-paths, treating theories as important, and repeating falsehoods until every repetition confirms them, finally believe a lie themselves while deceiving and being deceived under satanic inspiration. Against this the safeguard is to preach the Word and put the brethren in remembrance of these things as a good minister nourished in faith and good doctrine, thereby enlightening a perishing world and plainly exposing the peril. Continuing in the things learned and assured of, knowing from whom they were learned, and holding the Holy Scriptures known from childhood, which make wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus and, being inspired by God, are profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness to make the man of God perfect and furnished unto all good works, is the appointed defense.