“Masquerading as an Angel of Light”

Daily Reading: Leviticus 25, Psalm 115, 2 Corinthians 11, Proverbs 25

I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.

For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

2 Corinthians 11:1-4, 13-15

From the very beginning of creation Satan has been hard at work masquerading as an angel of light.

Reading back through Corinthians this year has hit me harder than in any previous times I have studied these letters from Paul. It is extremely easy to see the parallels between the church at Corinth, and the struggles they were dealing with, and the struggles we are facing as a collective church in the western world.

My heart has ached over the last ten years as it feels like there are more and more false apostles and deceitful workers masquerading as apostles of Christ.

Everywhere you look you see people using the name of Jesus to push agendas that look nothing like the message Jesus shared throughout his time walking the earth.

I believe that if Paul was alive today he would have a very similar message to us today:

For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.

My frustration the last ten years has not been the increase of false prophets, although that is certainly something that weighs heavily on my mind and heart as well.

My deepest frustration has been watching just how many people who have good hearts, who love Jesus, have been able to be swayed by charismatic voices and the power of algorithms created by big tech companies designed to push us all down rabbit holes into false realities.

I mourn for how quickly so many people have left the message Jesus came with, of loving your neighbor as yourself, and exchanged it for a gospel of division, fear, and hate.

Truly, large % of self professed followers of Jesus seem to “put up with this false doctrine easily enough.”

However, I then remind myself, the enemy wins when the followers of God despair.

Satan rejoices when followers of Jesus throw up their hands and give up trying to make it better.

False prophets are victorious when Christians around the world retreat to their own corners depressed by the state of the world, and decide it is no longer even worth seeking to change hearts and minds for the kingdom.

The battle is real. The harvest is plentiful.

The workers are few.

Help us to always remember, Lord, what we read in Psalm 115 today.

“Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.”

It is hard to keep the desire to fight the good fight, when we are focused on how hard it is becoming in our own lives.

The challenge can seem insurmountable when we feel like our efforts are all in vain.

Help us to remember your love and faithfulness.

Help us to remember that it is to your name be the glory.

Amen.

Daily Reflection & Dialogue

When have I recently felt like Paul writing back to the Corinthians in my own life? How can I keep God’s love and faithfulness at the center of how I show up in the world?