Mr. D's Notes on I Timothy
Rev. Stanley L. Derickson Ph.D.
Copyright 2000

CHAPTER 19

My wife and I were looking for a church home after moving to a new community. We looked in the yellow pages and tried a number of churches.

After a time, I found it more profitable to call and talk to the pastors of the prospective churches to see what I could find out. At times this saved us a distasteful visit.

I called a church that was a member of a fairly sound association that had the phrase "theologically conservative" in its description of itself. I called the pastor and was very excited with what I heard.

We arrived enthusiastic at the prospects and found the adult Sunday school class and settled in.

The discussion before the class began centered around everything but the Lord, but that isn't all that abnormal.

The class began and degenerated quickly into a discussion of whether Paul really was right when he called for male elders.

Before the class was over it was evident that the teacher and others felt Paul was in error at times in the word, and most were really rejecting the inspiration and inerrancy of the Word.

Shocked, we entered into the church service and settled into a service that was right on. In fact the pastor was one of the best I've heard.

Later that day I called the pastor and told him of my confusion over his messages conservativeness and the Sunday school's liberal bent.

He asked what class we had gone to. After a description of where it met he said, "well in that class you are probably right. They don't have a high regard for the inspiration of the Scripture. He explained that the class was a split off of another, more liberal, church in town that had decided to settle with his church. He mentioned that the other adult class would be more to our liking.

A fundamental church allowing false teachers to occupy their classrooms and foster the spreading of their false doctrine!

We want to look at ACCEPTING FALSEHOOD in verse one, PRACTICING FALSEHOOD in verse two and three, and REJECTING FALSEHOOD in verses four and five.

I. ACCEPTING FALSEHOOD

Verse 1. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

Off hand I personally can't think of many people that I have known that have departed from the faith. Most have continued on in the Word and followed the Lord to His benefit.

Indeed, however we seem to be in the last days from all indications. Those leaving the faith are becoming more and more prominent. They are leaving the truth for the half-truth of Satan.

We have seen some of the prominent TV evangelists fall into immorality and financial ruin as well as criminal acts.

We have Christians that have been brought up in the church that are turning to the cults and joining into the false doctrine.

We have believers reading the daily astrological listings in the newspaper.

We have believers reading devotionals from liberal denominations.

We have believers calling the Psychic hot lines.

We have television evangelists that are having visions of dead people that introduce them to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit.

We are seeing men trained in our better institutions turning from their Biblical training and going into or starting fringe area groups.

I think one of the worst examples of people going off into all sorts of things is within some of the fringe radical charismatic groups. We have the prosperity gospel that tells us that God wants all to be rich - the fact that only the church leadership is getting rich should tell us something.

My brother spoke of one in Seattle. They took up offerings in five-gallon buckets. The pastor and his wife both drive Mercedes Benz automobiles.

Most of the congregation was poor to middle class and giving like crazy so they can be rich.

There are the Holy Laughter and Holy barking folks that tell us we just aren't with it unless we are barking or laughing in the Spirit.

We have leaders in all of the denominations turning to embezzlement, to sex crimes and even murder. We have men that have served in fundamental ministries that are going off into money making ministries.

I recently received an email from a graduate of one of the main fundamentalist schools that was seeking ten dollars a month for the privilege of advertising his page on mine. He was setting up a prayer site - ten bucks to allow him to pray for people - hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Paul's use of the phrase "in the latter times" is of interest. Is Paul here admitting that the age might go on after his death? (He was a firm believer in the imminent return of Christ.)

I think that this may have been one of his realizations. He was getting older and realizing he might not live long enough to see the Lord come. The disciples looked for Christ to return almost immediately.

We do not know the time of the end! I trust that you will never predict the end, nor subscribe to someone else's predictions.

I hear almost yearly someone say from a pulpit that we see the end coming to pass in the middle east. Hog wash! Christ told us that it will come as a thief in the night. We won't see the unfolding of prophecy in this life, but probably from our heavenly view.

The prophets call for peace and unwalled cities in Israel before the end is come. The land of Israel is far from this today!

"depart from the faith" This seems to be one that has just up and changed his doctrine and walked away from a proper belief in the Word. From the faith would indicate more than just a doctrinal shift, but more to the thought that the person has left the faith or more to the point, left the church.

I would be quick to state that there are two areas in our day in which leaving the church can occur.

a. The type of shift in thinking that Paul is mentioning - the walking away from the faith.

b. The person that gets so fed up with the hypocrisy and sin of the church and leaves in total disgust. These people often just stagnate because they have no real spiritual growth, feeding or fellowship.

This type of person is becoming very common in our own day. Many in my own area are in this situation. I might mention that many are not stagnating, but living relatively normal Christian lives.

Some suggest that the person that does not attend church regularly cannot be spiritual. They normally mention the passage Hebrews 10.25 "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching."

The item of interest in my mind is that the church is to give to the believer opportunity to fellowship, pray, and serve. Many churches you can attend for years and never see the fellowship or service. If the church is not fulfilling its end of responsibilities then attendance is not relevant. The church is also to feed and nurture but few are succeeding.

"giving heed to seducing spirits" The idea seems to extend to giving assent to the seducing spirits.

The term seducing indicates leading astray or misleading if you will with spirits that entice. This term appears four other times in the New Testament and is always translated with the idea of deceiver. (Matt. 27.63 - deceive; II Cor. 6.8 - deceivers; II John 7 - deceivers and deceiver

The term “spirits” is the term that is used of man's spirit as well as the Holy Spirit. Indeed, this is the same term that is translated Spirit in the first of the verse. The term is used in relation to the mind in Rom. 8:6 which states, "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace."

It would seem that Paul is using the word to give warning to any misleading thought of the mind or in short again the thought of false doctrine.

Doctrines of Devils or deceptive thoughts and/or doctrines might be the thought of the phrase.

Again there are batches of them out there. They even sound good when presented. They even may sound scriptural - unless you look at the WHOLE OF SCRIPTURE.

This is not doctrines about demons, but doctrines fostered by them. What doctrines the demons might foster is wide open - most anything that will mislead and cause you to deviate from truth.

The interlinear translates this as "spirits misleading and teachings of demons,"

"doctrines" is the word "didaskalia" It is translated teaching once and learning once and all other occurrences are translated doctrine. It is the same term that is used of sound doctrine (II Tim 3:16).

"devils" is a term that is normally translated devils and it is indicating the demons. It is the term used when Christ was casting out demons in the Gospels.

It would seem that the teachings are the teachings of the god of this world rather than the God of creation. These are doctrines that the devil has propagated via his emissaries the demons.

Don't ask me to give you an example, for any false doctrine is of the Devil ultimately. Any teaching that is contrary to the Word of God is false doctrine and doctrine of the devil.

Matthew 7.15-16a gives a description of the type of men we might be looking at.

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheeps's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits...."

One question that often comes up relating to this text is this. Are these people Christians that fall into false doctrine or are they professors that never really grasped the truth?

LET'S LOOK AT SOME FACTS:

1. In verse one "depart from the faith" is a term that is used usually of Christians 1.19; 3.9.

2. It is mentioned that their conscience is seared. This usually is connected with a long time of wrong doing or thought.

3. They forbid, what those that believe and know the truth, are to be enjoying.

Professors or departing Christians? First of all salvation is not an issue in this text. As to them being Christians - I would think from the text they are believers that just take a right turn out and away from their faith.

II. PRACTICING FALSEHOOD

Verse 2 "Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;"

How would you describe "lies in hypocrisy?” Can you think of an example? Maybe speaking lies with a smile on their face? Maybe speaking lies from the lectern? Maybe speaking lies from the pulpit? Maybe speaking lies from the microphone on radio and TV?

Anyone that puts forth a, known to them, lie as truth - he is guilty of Paul's thought at this point in the text.

If I know that something is false and teach you folks that lie then I am speaking lies in hypocrisy.

"conscience seared with a hot iron" My Father years ago had very bad nose bleeds. He went to the doctor and they burned the inside of his nose on both sides to cauterize the area so that the nose bleeds would stop. He had no more nose bleeds, but he no longer could smell the great smell of a roast in the oven or the smell of a flower, or the smell of smoke, or anything else. With the benefit he had a real loss.

Indeed, the loss was the sense of danger if burning odors had ever floated his ways. He could have been in serious trouble had a fire started when he was alone.

So, the person with a seared conscience is in deep danger of the things that they might get into because they do not have the proper input from the Holy Spirit into their lives.

Nothing further can move their conscience - it has no feeling left.

I do know of people that have sidestepped God's command one time, then another time, then they find other commands that they can sidestep and another, until they are sidestepping everything that they know to be right and calling their error truth to justify their life style and actions.

Verse 3 Forbidding to marry, [and commanding] to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

Well we know that Dr. Adkins isn't a false prophet - he would never tell anyone to abstain from meats! (Dr. Adkins has set forth the high protein, low carbohydrate diet which involves eating lots of meat.)

Why might someone forbid people to marry?

a. Personal power struggle with the person.
b. Trying to run another person's life.
c. Perpetrate wrong, or falsehood.
d. Try to get someone to agree with your idea of not marrying.
e. Doing it for spiritual gain.
f. Trying to make them emotionally reliant on the leader.

"forbidding to marry" There are some of the cults that forbid marriage until the leader has chosen the mate and then the couple can be married. The followers readily submit to this activity.

This type of forbidding of meat is refuted in Col 2:16, "Let no man therfore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:"

Paul chose two topics, marriage and meats, probably because they were problems at the time in Ephesus.

He did not mean to limit seducing spirits to only spreading two false teachings. There are many false teachings around today including these relating to marriage and meat.

It is of interest to me that these terrible nasty doctrines of devils are what I would call today some minor false teaching in relation to what we have going on today. Forbidding to marry or worrying about what meats to eat or not eat seems small potatoes in light of the ordination of women, homosexual churches and pastors, abortion, euthanasia etc. Not to mention the deity of Christ, inspiration, inerrancy, and the Trinity.

Do you suppose that this is in of itself a monstrous rebuke of our own times and church? We have not addressed those smaller problems that Paul term large problems and we have progressed so far down the road that we are dealing with things that Paul never even imagined were possible in the church!

A missionary to Venezuela mentioned of the numerous churches that had been planted in his tribe, and how the elders come together from all churches once a year to work on problems and have Bible teaching. If the elder or pastor does not settle the problems in his own church the pastors of the other churches will go to that church and take care of things. This is probably not best in that all churches should be independent, yet it points up the fact that the Indians are doing great work for God because they do not allow problems to strangle them.

Anything which is against Scripture would fit into this verse.

"commanding to abstain from foods"

Catholics have been guilty of both of these until recent years when they lifted the meat restrictions. They still forbid the priests and nun's to marry though this teaching is also under heavy fire within the Roman church. Married priests and nun's are serving up the mass and holding services in liberal renegade churches in our country.

Concerning marriage, I believe we have some real fallacies in our teaching on the subject. We need to concentrate on marriage in the children to youth years so that they understand it before they enter into it, find trouble and walk away from it!

Let's chase a rabbit for a moment and talk about singles in the church. By singles I mean someone that has not been married before. If you have singles, keep your nose out of their marriage business. Don't push them about marriage. Don't "fix them up - THEY AREN'T BROKEN!" Don't pester them. They are single because they desire to be or just haven't found the right person. Just because you are married, it does not require everyone to be married.

Feel free to ask if they are interested in meeting singles of the opposite sex, but don't force or push them.

Singleness is not a plague. It is at times a choice.

A professor at one of the colleges I attended was single by choice and felt this is what God wanted for him. He had much more time for study and preparation.

He mentioned in class one day that there was one thing in the church that really bothered him and that was the fact that every little old lady had a nice young lady for him to meet.

He had no desire for marriage.

Another item that is off the subject but seems to fit here. Single missionaries. One of the things you can pray for when praying for singles workers is that they will be able to cope with their singleness. In many cases the single missionary is single because of circumstance not by desire.

Missions have found that if a single person returns for a third term on the field that they will normally remain single for life.

Can you feature the commitment it would take to return for that third term single?

I have had good discussions on the internet with single believers of all ages, and they strongly agree with what I have set forth above. Many of them add the great need for fellowship and nurturing within this group of people.

7th Day Adventists often hold to the Law's stipulations on the eating of meats, while others abstain from all meat.

Both meats and marriage can be gratefully shared in if we believe in God and know the truth. The unsaved world as a whole today is not "grateful" for marriage. Some are rejecting it, many are trying to get out of it and many are just unhappy in it.

The Christians of this country are prone to this same thinking. We had a missionary in our home that we have known for many years and we were talking of the many friends that we had in common. We were appalled at how many had fallen into divorce.

I counted in one of our year books 117 students. Of those students we could only name 17 that had entered ministries, and some of them were now out of the ministry due to family problems.

Marriage and meat can be good to some people, but are not required. For example - pastors would have much more time for their ministry if they did not have family responsibilities.

I Cor. 10:31 tells us everything is to glorify God.

Romans 14:4,5 shows what God thinks of forcing this type of abstinence upon people. If you continue in Romans 14, you will see that this area is an area of judging others and Paul says this is not right. We all will be judged, so why do it? ("Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind."

III. REJECTING FALSEHOOD

Verse 4 For every creature of God [is] good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:

Is every creature of God really good for food? "every creature of God is good" - EVERY - !

Nothing is to be refuse IF "it is received with thanksgiving." This indicates our food should be accepted after thanks has been given.

Another rabbit trail. Do we say a prayer over those snacks that we put together for guests, you know, those desserts, coffees, cheeses etc.? Do we bless those things we know we shouldn't be eating? Maybe we ought to consider this in the quiet of the refrigerator light some late night.

One more point then about "every creature" - A missionary in chapel was mentioning that they eat roast tarantulas with their Indian people in Venezuela. Does every creature mean every creature? YES. Even the horsemeat that is eaten in Europe today.

Our American tastes may not measure up to the spiders and the snakes that are eaten in the world. We might attribute this to our overabundant economy!

Verse 5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

The term sanctified has the idea of something that has been set apart. How can food be set apart as this verse indicates? What was Paul trying to say here?

"it is sanctified" - set aside for God's use. God uses it to prepare us to be able to do the things that He wants us to do. Food is required for us to continue daily tasks and that is what we are all about.

Notice it is sanctified by the Word as well as prayer. This is not meaning that you must read the word, pray and then eat, though that might not be a bad idea.

The Word states that all creatures are good for eating, thus all things are set apart for us. We then pray and recognize that God has set the food aside for our use and His use in us.

"prayer" In prayer we are putting ourselves and our food under God's eyes and direction.

So, how do we apply this truth?

1. If it is separated to God then can you throw it away and waste it with a clear conscience? We need to consider our stewardship of what God has given us.

2. By praying before every meal then we are committing that much more of our life to Him.

3. If we know it's been made holy then it won't be so bad that it’s only a casserole that we've had six times before this week.

Some have wondered due to the Old Testament restrictions of diet whether believers are free to eat meat?

After the flood Noah was given permission to eat meat. The Jewish law limited the types of meat to the clean animals, but again in the New Testament all meats are considered okay for mankind. I Timothy contains one of the best texts to show this. "For every creature of God is good...if it is received with thanksgiving." There are no qualifying statements to change this straight forward statement of fact.

Acts 10:9ff indicates that we are free to eat of all sorts as well.

Why should we pray for our bread?

"Back of the bread is the snowy flour,
and back of the flour the mill.
Back of the mill is the field of wheat,
the rain and the Father's will." Anonymous

Just why is the topic of meats such a federal case to Paul? Is this not the typical tactic of the Devil? Getting one to believe that what God says is false. Eve bought it as have millions others through the years and the term meat can be translated victual or food - seems he is still alive and well.

The main point to this passage in my mind is allowing God to be a part of the most mundane part of our life - that of eating. Taking time to recognize that He is the provider of all that we have.

We looked at Francis Schaeffer's comment last study about how man can change the course of history. "The greatest creativity ever given is the ability of men, by their choices, to change the course of history."

The truth is a two-edged sword. Good choices change history for the good, while bad choices change history for the worse.

Those we have studied in this passage have changed things for the worse over the years. We have some isms today that are misleading millions of people. These men that turned away from truth to follow their own thinking have produced some of the largest cults in history.

We on the other hand may be those that God is going to use to do great things for mankind - I would encourage you once again to consider carefully the decisions and choices you make. Make them based on God and His leading.

In closing I would like to challenge you with a thought. Many young people are coming under the influence of the isms and thinking of the world. I ran across something on the net recently that brought me up short - is this maybe one of the reasons the young are going astray. Is this something our generation has failed in miserably - in educating the newer generations in the history of things both secular and spiritual?

Just think about it - can these young people really relate to what we are saying to them? This relates to the secular but the same is true of spiritual knowledge.

This list is related to the year 2000 but the thought of it relates to each new generation.

"Each year the staff at Beloit College in Wisconsin puts together a list to try to give the faculty a sense of the mindset of that years incoming freshmen.”

Here is the list for 2000:

"The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were born in 1982.

"They have no meaningful recollection of the Reagan Era and probably did not know he had ever been shot.

"Black Monday, 1987 is as significant to them as the Great Depression.

"There has been only one Pope.

"They were 11 when the Soviet Union broke apart and do not remember the Cold War.

"They have never feared a nuclear war.

"They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up.

"Tianamen Square means nothing to them

"Bottle caps have always been screw off and plastic.

"Atari predates them, as do vinyl albums.

"The expression you sound like a broken record means nothing to them.

"They have never owned a record player.

"They have likely never played Pac Man and have never heard of Ping-Pong.

"They may have never heard of an 8 track. The Compact Disc was introduced when they were 1 year old.

"As far as they know, stamps have always cost about 33 cents.

"They have always had an answering machine.

"Most have never seen a TV set with only 13 channels, nor have they seen a black-and-white TV.

"They have always had cable.

"There has always been VCRs, but they have no idea what BETA is.

"They cannot fathom not having a remote control.

"They were born the year that Walkman were introduced by Sony.

"Roller-skating has always meant inline for them.

"Jay Leno has always been on the Tonight Show.

"They have no idea when or why Jordache jeans were cool.

"Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.

"They have never seen Larry Bird play.

"They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.

"The Vietnam War is as ancient history to them as WWI, WWII and the Civil War.

"They have no idea that Americans were ever held hostage in Iran.

"They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are.

"They don't know who Mork was or where he was from.

"They never heard: Where's the beef?, I'd walked a mile for a Camel, or 'de plane, de plane.'

"They do not care who shot J. R. and have no idea who J. R. is.

"The Titanic was found? They thought we always knew where it was.

"Michael Jackson has always been white.

"Kansas, Chicago, Boston, America, and Alabama are places, not groups.

"McDonalds never came in Styrofoam containers.

"There has always been MTV.

"They don't have a clue how to use a typewriter."

May we make our message relevant to those that we meet. May we also be assured our message is true and Biblical.