1 Timothy 4:1-5--Some Will Depart from the Faith

1 Timothy 4:1-5
English Standard Version

Some Will Depart from the Faith
4 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, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

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This is a question I hear a lot (in fact, I was essentially having this conversation with a good friend the night before writing this).  In the last days, many people will be deceived, and many will harden their hearts.  Instead of devoting themselves to the Lord, they will instead devote themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons (many will be so deceived they do not even know they are devoting themselves to to these deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, but they are).  I will not try to list all the things that fall into this category because the enemy's tactics are sure to change over time and also there is no way to make an exhaustive list because there is only one right way to tell the truth and nearly an infinite amount of ways to lie about that truth by withholding true information, adding false information or implying that it means something completely different than what it actually says (like Satan did in the temptation of Jesus when he somewhat accurately quoted the book of Psalms to Jesus, though out of context, and tried to us God's Word as a justification for why Jesus should give into the devil's temptation).

Those who are led astray exchange the truth of God for a lie because they want to believe the lie (see Romans 1).  There is not a single person born neutral who isn't bent towards rebellion against God.  This is the meaning of Original Sin and is the result of the Fall of Adam.  These liars come up with all kinds of cults who do things like forbidding marriage or denying people the pleasure of enjoying the good things that God has made for them (like all the different kinds of food, both from plants and animals) that He has given to us to eat.  This is probably one of the clearest verses you can point to saying that you have the freedom to eat without trying to follow the dietary laws of the Old Covenant (there are a couple other ones).  That being said, Paul instructs us other places to be careful about when people are trying to test us and when there are people around us who feel it to be a violation of their conscience to eat something they think would defile them or hurt their testimony, or that would lead them into sin.  Feel free to ask me if you have questions about this.

While this last part seems to be a deviation from the message of being careful about false teachers and the deception of evil spirits and their false teachings, it is connected.  Most of the lies start with someone being ungrateful for the good things God has given to them, a lack of godly contentment, and even a spirit of covetousness that desires something you believe is good that God is withholding from you or another person you love.  Go back to the Garden of Eden--the temptation of the devil wouldn't have worked if Adam and Eve had focused on all the good trees that the LORD told them they could eat from.  Eve did say this, but she let the devil put her focus on the one tree that was forbidden and let the devil tell her that God was trying to withhold something good from her (He was not, He was trying to keep her safe).  Satan is still using the same playbook today.  The lies may sound different, but they take the form of telling you to not take God at His Word, God cannot be trusted, you must choose what is good and evil for yourself, and to ignore or deny the consequences of your choice and to just do what feels good in the moment.  The result of sin is always brokenness between God and Man and between fellow men.  Watch out for false teachers who attempt to deceive even the Elect if possible, and understand that in the last days there will be a time of great apostasy (many will turn away from the so-called faith that they never really had).  This should not surprise us and is part of God separating the "sheep" from the "goats"--in the end, all those who belong to the kingdom of this world will be deceived by the Antichrist, the False Prophet, and Satan.  They will take the mark of the beast and gladly swear their allegiance to a kingdom of this world that is opposed to God and all He stand for.  (More on the last days/end times as we continue to study 1&2 Timothy, Titus, and Revelation).