Genesis 3:3-8: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
 

Satan's tactics often mirror his own rebellion. When he came to Eve saying, "you can be like God," he was laying the trap for mankind that caused his own downfall. He knows the allure to mortal man on being like the Almighty. Such teaching is rampant in the modern Christian world today and it is taking on various forms and philosophies. NO denomination is innocent in this be them Baptist, Pentecostal, Charismatic, Catholic or whatever. Writers, teachers, preachers and sadly entire denominations are invoking New Age philosophies that state "we are all gods," and put man in the driver's seat of his own life, PURPOSE, and destiny.

These doctrines come to us in the sense that people want to "build up" man's self esteem but it is a frightening parallel to the same deception Satan brought to man 6,000 years ago.

Some of the catch phrases are "you can be like God," "didn't Jesus say 'greater works than these shall YOU do?," and "God is committed to the law of faith so He cannot resist YOUR power." The result is that the American Jesus and the American God is reduced to a genie in a bottle, obligated to our three wishes, no longer Father God with a sovereign will.

It would take me 10 more pages to write on this subject. As the year progresses we plan to deal with more of these issues head on but I want to say this. In these latter days, we all as Christians need to ask ourselves "What is of God?" "What is a deception? How can I discern the difference between what is false and that which is true?

A simple, yet not so simple answer to all these questions is found in one statement - the preaching of the Cross of Christ! If the gospel you are hearing is not pointing you to the finished work of Christ - it's a false gospel, driven by a false spirit, pointing you to a false Christ. And the modern church is FULL of this type preaching today. The word of Faith movement that boasts of its "revelatory" superiority over the rest of the Body of Christ has done more to promote the current apostasy than any other to be quite frank. Christian television networks such as TBN and others have not done anything more but to transport these heresies across the world. Most of the preachers on these networks are not preaching CHRIST, they are preaching "YOU CAN HAVE ALL THINGS YOU ASK FOR." It's not a gospel of repentance, submission, humility, and holiness, it's a gospel that says if you're not driving a Mercedes or if you take as aspirin, something is wrong with your faith.

Another huge delusion sweeping modern Christendom is the purpose driven life craze. Neighbor, your purpose in life is summed up in one statement - "BECOMING LIKE CHRIST." Nothing else. And the only power on earth and in heaven to make you and I like JESUS is the power of the HOLY GHOST, who works within the parameters of our faith in the finished work of CHRIST! We preach CHRIST CRUCIFIED! We preach the power of the CROSS OF CHRIST. We GLORY in NOTHING except the CROSS OF CHRIST! As Paul said, we are determined to know NOTHING, but CHRIST and HIM CRUCIFIED! Anything else is shifting and sinking sand in these final days.

You had better watch what you see, who you listen to and what you read and intake into your spirit. If what you is reading is making you believe YOU have to do something to earn brownie points from heaven, you are being deceived! Grace is not cheap and it's not something we casually sit by and just let happen. True salvation will produce GOOD WORKS unto eternal life. Good works are a PRODUCT of grace, not the other way around. Grace does not come because of works. Satan is wooing millions away from the cross because it's easier for man to take his own salvation into his own hands than to just believe God. But it's a gospel that will lead to death.

2 Corinthians 11:1-4: Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

1 Timothy 4:1-4: 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; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 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. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:

2 Timothy 4:1-4: I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

Galatians 1:6-9:  marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

Galatians 6:14: But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

This generation will be the most perilous when it comes to hearing the truth. You need to allow the Holy Spirit to guide you and keep you from error in these last hours before rapture and the Lord's return.

SOURCE: Spirit Journals