DEATH BY AMBUSH

Ps. 91:1-3 – He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress,

My God, in whom I trust!”

For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper

And from the deadly pestilence.

I think many Christians are in a state of total cluelessness when it comes to false teaching in the church and outside of the church. In my early Christian days I had to find my way through the maze of cult like teaching that was trying to destroy the Jesus movement. There were ministries that incorporated promiscuity as a form of evangelism, others that embraced rigid legalism as a sort of modern day form of Judaism, there were others that had strange teaching that supposedly came from angelic appearances. This is the same stuff that Paul dealt with and has risen its head in a new package every time there is a move of God. One of the favorites is some form of the mega-grace message that says that we are free to live a compromising life because of grace, “shall we continue in sin that grace may abound”, of course not. Luther dealt with all sorts of odd teaching in his day, here is something he said about these hunters trying to trap God’s people.

“… he seems to be speaking here about those who hunt souls, for the whole psalm speaks in spirit and not only in metaphor. Since indeed it is one thing to speak thus in metaphor, and another thing to speak about hunters or hunters in spirit. For whatever captures or tries to capture through guile is hunting metaphorically. But here he speaks about the capture of souls. Hence, as the Gospels and the scriptures are Peter’s nets, so the ungodly teachings are the nets of the Jews, Pharisees, and heretics cast out to catch souls….The Hebrew reads “and from death by ambush”, and the meaning is the same. Through such death dealing doctrine souls are cunningly captured when they outwardly appear to be good and are evil underneath”.

One of the favorite traps over the last several years is the extreme teaching on prosperity. One thing you can look for is when someone takes a truth and makes it the whole truth. I believe that the Lord blesses those who support God’s work financially but at the end of the day our life is about more than houses, cars, watches, and vacations. Stick to the simplicity of God’s word; pray, worship, share your faith, make disciples, support your church, and read your Bible. You do the simple things and you will avoid death by ambush.