WWUTT 627 Liars Whose Consciences Are Seared?

The Warning About Liars Whose Consciences Are Seared

Liars have seared consciences. They feel absolutely no guilt about the fact that they are lying to you. They will say one thing and then they will do something else. This is the teaching of demons when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text, as an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty, visit our website at www .utt .com.

Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you, Becky. And greetings, everyone. We continue with our study of 1 Timothy 4, same block of verses we were looking at yesterday, the first five, where Paul says, 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, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. So just yesterday, as we were talking about false teachers here, which Paul is addressing at the start of chapter 4, I mentioned Gloria Copeland, because she made headline news last week, not just in Christian circles, but even in the national media, when she had posted a video on Facebook about how Jesus is our flu shot, and if you have faith in Jesus, you won't ever get the flu.

This was not only printed in USA Today, I mean, the national media is going to go after this because the Copelands are among Donald Trump's spiritual advisors, so they've kind of painted a target on themselves.

This was not only in the papers, but Jimmy Kimmel made fun of this on his late night talk show. Todd Friel pointed out that even Kimmel realizes that what Gloria Copeland is talking about is nonsense, and this is not what the Bible says.

You don't have a flu shot just because you have faith in Christ. Well, since I mentioned this yesterday, Copeland Ministries posted an article through Charisma News, which is a terrible place to get any sort of Christian news, by the way.

But anyway, they posted an article basically trying to explain the comments that Gloria Copeland made, and in the process, they actually exposed themselves as complete liars. So here's what I want to do.

I want to play the clip in question. This is the thing that caused all of the controversy, so you can hear it with your own ears. The full clip, unedited, what Gloria Copeland said that was featured on Facebook where she talks about Jesus being our flu shot.

And then I'm going to go through this article that was posted in Charisma News. So here's Gloria Copeland.

Well, listen, partners, we don't have a flu season. We've got a duck season, a deer season, but we don't have a flu season and don't receive it when somebody threatens you with, everybody's getting the flu.

We've already had our shot. He bore our sicknesses and carried our diseases. That's what we stand on. And by his stripes, we were healed. If you've already got the flu, I'm going to pray for you right now.

Father, I pray for every person that has symptoms of flu. I'm asking you, Lord, by your supernatural power to heal them now from the top of their head to the soles of their feet. Flu, I bind you off of the people in the name of Jesus.

Jesus himself gave us the flu shot. He redeemed us from the curse of flu and we receive it and we take it and we are healed by his stripes. Amen. You know, the Bible says he himself bore our sicknesses and carried our diseases.

And by his stripes, we were healed. When we were healed, we are healed. So get on the Word, stay on the Word. And if you say, well, I don't have any symptoms of the flu. Well, great. That's the way it's supposed to be.

Just keep saying that I'll never have the flu. I'll never have the flu. Put words, inoculate yourself with the Word of God. He himself bore my sicknesses, carried my diseases. By his stripes, I was healed.

I am healed. And Jesus is Lord, hallelujah.

That clip was a minute and 45 seconds long. And three times you'll notice Gloria said that Jesus took our illnesses and bore our diseases. She said that three times. Where does that come from? What does it mean?

We'll talk about that here in just a moment. So Charisma Magazine, after that video was posted, they had an article on their website titled Gloria Copeland, skip the flu shot and inoculate yourself with God's Word.

And they opened the article, Gloria Copeland said that flu shots were unnecessary because Jesus provides total protection in a recent Facebook video. So that's according to Charisma Magazine. They even affirm that Gloria said that in her video.

Now in Charisma News, which is the same organization, Charisma Magazine, Charisma News, it's all the same thing. But Charisma News featured an article that was authored by Kenneth Copeland Ministries and the headline is, did Gloria Copeland really say not to get the flu shot?

And here is what they say in their article. Last week, Gloria Copeland recorded an encouraging message, praying for those who have the flu. And she also talked about how to stand against the flu in faith.

You may have noticed from news reports and social media comments that there are a lot of people who do not agree with our stance on the Word of God, including healing and the flu. This has led people to question if you can really have victory over sickness like the.

Flu.

Let's clear a few things up about Gloria's talk about the flu. Gloria did not say or imply that you shouldn't get a flu shot or see a doctor. Gloria and Kenneth Copeland Ministries value medicine and doctors and would never counsel someone not to seek medical care.

I beg to differ. And I can go right back to the other Charisma News article to prove my point. So in the first article that was posted by Charisma Mag, they actually put in that article that in 2013, the Copeland's church was the site of a measles outbreak in which 21 people became sick, apparently due to lack of vaccination.

One church member told the Associated Press to get a vaccine would have been viewed by me and my friends and my peers as an act of fear that you doubted God would keep you safe. We simply didn't do it.

And that's completely in keeping with the teaching that Ken and Gloria Copeland have been teaching at their church. So this whole thing now with their their own kind of dust up article where they're saying that Gloria did not say or imply that you shouldn't get a flu shot or see a doctor.

Charisma Magazine had already said that that is what Gloria Copeland said. Gloria Copeland said that flu shots were unnecessary because Jesus provides total protection in a recent Facebook video. There you have it.

So like I said, this this whole debacle completely exposes Kenneth Copeland Ministries as being lying and deceptive. And furthermore, they are those whose consciences are seared. So as we read here in First Timothy four to through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, a seared conscience means they can say one thing and say another and they feel they don't feel any guilt about that whatsoever.

Two completely different conflicting statements, but they have no scruples about it. And I'll expose that point a little bit more here. So going on in this article in Charisma News from Kenneth Copeland Ministries, it says Gloria did not say that if you had contracted the flu, you were a bad Christian who did not have enough faith or who did not pray enough.

On the contrary, she said a prayer of healing for those who had the flu. That is true. She did that in the video. She prayed for those who had the flu, but she was speaking to everybody else who didn't have the flu by saying that if you believe in Jesus, then you won't have the flu.

And there are other places, other messages where Gloria Copeland has said that if you believe that you can get sick, you're actually blaspheming God. I went to a sermon that Gloria Copeland preached on faith, believing that you can have whatever you say you want to have.

It was the first sermon I clicked on. I didn't even have to go searching for it. The first sermon I clicked on, Gloria was talking about the things that you will get if you just say that you that they belong to you.

God has given them to you. You say to receive them and they will be yours, including healing. That was one of the things she talked about. She also talked about you can declare yourself to be debt free and you will be debt free.

You can declare that you're going to own this car or this house and you will own this car or this house. You can declare that you want this kind of spouse and you will have that kind of spouse. That is exactly what she says in the sermon.

I mean, this is Kenneth Copeland ministry stick. This is what they've always preached on. So of course, it wouldn't be hard for me to find such a sermon. It's almost all they talk about. Now, here is what Gloria says about those who don't believe or don't name it and claim.

It.

And you don't ever say, don't you ever say, I'm just scared to death of that. Don't you ever say that?

What are you saying?

You're saying I don't have a lick of faith for that. That's awful.

That's blasphemous. Don't say that.

So it's blasphemous to say you're scared to death about something. Yet Jesus in Matthew 2638 said, my soul is very sorrowful even to death. Was Jesus saying the wrong thing there? Did he not name it and claim it because he said he was sorrowful?

He was filled with sorrow. And if only he had said, I'm filled with happiness and joy, then he would have been filled with happiness and joy. And because he said he was filled with sorrow, even to death, that he therefore then died.

And if he had not been talking about death, then he wouldn't have gone to the cross and died because that's really the whole concept behind the name it and claim it thing. That's exactly the argument that she's presenting.

What you say is what ends up happening to you. And that's what she says in the sermon. So don't think that I'm making or I'm adding to her words what she didn't say. She actually says that very thing in the sermon.

What you say you will get is what you will get. If you don't say it, you won't get it. If you say negative things, then you will only get negative things. And so if that's going to be her theology, she has to apply that even to the words of Christ.

When he said in the garden of Gethsemane, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death. If only he had spoken about positive things, he would not have been filled with sorrow and he would not have been led to his death.

It's a it's actually Gloria who is making the blasphemous statement, not the person who is saying that they're scared to death about something and pointing out again that Kenneth Copeland Ministry says Gloria did not say that if you had contracted the flu, you were a bad Christian.

You did not have enough faith or who did not pray enough. Well, there in that clip, we just heard her say that you are. If you if you contract the flu, if you get sick, if something like that happens to you, you did not have enough faith.

In fact, you were probably saying or declaring things that were blasphemous according to according to Gloria Copeland. That's the crux of that whole sermon. You have to have faith to not get sick. Oh, and by the way, I'll play that clip from the end of the sermon.

Look at that. Says in there, whosoever shall say and not doubt the but and believe those things which he sayeth, you've got to come to a revelation that I'm getting what I'm saying, whatever I say, that's what I have.

That's the truth. I mean, not not based on the word of God, necessarily even bad things. You continually say, I'm just afraid that I'm going to get sick and die young. I'm afraid I'm going to have cancer.

I'm afraid of a car wreck. I'm just afraid. What would that be? That would be the opposite of saying the Lord watches over me continually. I'll never be sick another day in my life.

All you have to do is say you will never be sick again a day in your life and you won't.

Be.

Yeah, and the irony of all of this is that Gloria Copeland is preaching this sermon of hers wearing glasses. Not even kidding. She actually has her glasses case on the podium with her, which she keeps grabbing over the course of that sermon and using it as a prop.

She's got glasses on her face. She has her glasses case right there. Really? I want to go, Gloria, why have you not named and claimed perfect vision yet? Why do you need glasses? If according to you, all you have to do is say you're going to get these things and you will get them.

So why are you wearing those glasses? Why are you wearing reading glasses up there in order to see the text that you are reading.

From?

See, the prosperity preachers can't even deliver the things that they that they promise. God will give you this if you say it. Yet you're not even doing that. You're not even demonstrating before your own congregation.

And they're all completely fooled. Everybody in that building who's saying their amens and hurrahs as she is preaching this. They don't even notice the irony of the fact that she's got glasses on her face as she's reading this particular text.

So again, First Timothy four, one, the spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons. It's not just that they were fooled by those teachings and therefore followed the wrong teacher.

They devoted themselves to it. It's what they wanted. And as Paul will say in his letter to his next letter to Timothy, he will say that a time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears.

They will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. Why is it that that room is full of people listening to Gloria Copeland contradict herself as she's standing there at the podium because they want what it is that she's talking about.

They have a passion for the things that she is saying. They want to believe that they can name and claim just by the power of their own words, the things that they want. So they want to listen to her affirm the attitude that was already present in their hearts.

They don't really want God. They want God to be a vending machine who's going to give them all the stuff that they want, all the material possessions in this world. And at the start of that sermon, Gloria even said that she said it could be anything, be material things.

You just say you want that and God will give it to you. So this is vending machine theology. It is believing that God is just some sort of dispenser of the stuff that we want. Push the button, put a coin in the machine, push the button, and out comes the the thing that you selected, that you named and claimed.

So here is the the seared conscience on display here in this sermon and even in this article that's being written by Kenneth Copeland Ministries. So then going on, the ministry says, Gloria did not say that by simply speaking words, you will not get the flu.

Well, yeah, that is exactly what she said. And we heard it in that sermon clip that we heard right there. If you say you won't get sick, you won't get sick. If you say I'll never have a sickness again for the rest of my life, you won't get it.

That's Kenneth Copeland Ministries whole stick. That's what they've always preached. They are liars. By the way, they're liars in the same paragraph. I don't even have to go from this paragraph to the sermon clip.

I could just keep reading the paragraph. Hang on, let me come back to it. So Gloria did not say that by simply speaking words, you will not get the flu. Instead, she demonstrated how to resist the flu by expressing out loud what the word of God says about your healing.

Hang on just a second there. Those are conflicting sentences. Let me read it again. Gloria did not say that by simply speaking words, you will not get the flu. Instead, she demonstrated how to resist the flu by expressing out loud saying what the word of God says about your healing.

So in other words, Gloria did say that by speaking words, you will not get the flu. They even contradict themselves in the same paragraph here. Anyway, I'm running out of time and there's more to go in that article.

It's actually a rather long article. They start going into six things that you should know about healing. And if I had the time, I would go through all of that. But anyway, I think I've demonstrated enough that the Kenneth Copeland ministries are liars.

They are liars with seared consciences. They're devoted to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons. Now, one of the things that I mentioned a little bit ago is that Gloria says three times in that clip, Gloria says that Jesus took our illnesses and bore our diseases.

Well, that comes from Matthew chapter eight, beginning in verse 14. Jesus entered Peter's house. And when Jesus saw Peter's mother-in-law lying sick with a fever, he touched her hand and the fever left her and she rose and began to serve him.

That evening, they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.

Now, all that's being said here by Matthew is that Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecy made by Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 53. This is he who would take away the stain of our sin by his death on the cross.

That's what Matthew's pointing out. Isaiah 53, verses four and five, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds, we are healed. What kind of healing are we talking about here? We're talking about healing from the stain of sin.

We're talking about healing from the consequences of our sin, which is death. And through Jesus Christ, we are forgiven our sins and we are given eternal life. That's the gospel. The gospel is not that through Jesus Christ, you can name and claim healing on yourself and you'll never get the flu.

That's not the gospel. In fact, that's not good news at all because that's not reality. And when you say, I won't get the flu and then you get the flu, doesn't matter how much you believe it, you're going to get the flu if you've got the flu bug ravaging your body.

It has nothing to do with you not having enough faith or not naming it and claiming it correctly. It's because we live in a fallen world and you are still in a material, fleshly, corruptible body and until you have died and Christ has returned and raised that body imperishable.

Until then, this world is going to continue to suffer the effects of sin. God subjected this whole world to futility because of sin, as it's talked about in Romans chapter eight, but Christ takes away our sin by his death on the cross.

That's the gospel of Christ. And that's what it is that we need to believe in. Not that God is going to make us comfortable in this life, because in fact, Jesus said in Matthew seven, to follow him is the difficult road.

Many people will take the broad way because that's the easy way, but narrow is the gate that leads to life and few will find it. Following Jesus is the difficult road, not the easy road. We have no guarantee that he will heal us of our diseases in this life.

We are guaranteed that he will raise us perfect, make our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself. As talked about in Philippians chapter three, we have that hope and that promise for all who are in Christ Jesus.

That day is coming, but it's not going to be in this lifetime. It will be in the next lifetime. So stay away from those teachers who are promising things that they can't deliver on. They can't deliver it for themselves and they can't deliver it for you.

They are deceitful spirits with seared consciences. First Timothy four, one and two again. 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 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared.

And then we'll finish up the rest of this paragraph tomorrow. So we as Christians, what we need to do is that in the present time, we need to remain steadfast in the faith. We need to have an unshakable faith that no matter what comes our way, it is not going to take away the hope that we have in Christ Jesus.

We also need to hold fast to the true faith, that which was once for all delivered to the saints as Jude talks about in his letter, that which flows from the true gospel of Jesus Christ. We need to listen to those teachers who are consistent in their speech because what it is that they have to say is not born out of the passions of their flesh, but it comes from the word of God, the Bible, the solid rock.

As Jesus talked about in the story of the wise man and the foolish man at the end of the sermon on the Mount, he says, whoever hears these words of mine and does what they say, he is like the wise man who builds his house upon the rock.

And so those are the kinds of teachers that we need to be listening to and therefore not chasing after the passions of our own flesh, but crucifying the flesh. For I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me.

Our father God, I pray that would be the conviction of our hearts. Help us to cling all the more to Christ and everything that we're going through right now or whatever we will face today. Help us to know how to give glory to you even in the midst of these circumstances.

We feel sorrow when it's acceptable to feel sorrow in that particular circumstance, but we know that you are ultimately going to deliver us from all of this and give us the imperishable kingdom for those who endure to the end.

And our endurance is not by our own strength. It is by the strength of Christ. So teach us what it means to trust you in anything, in all things, day by day.

You are God. You are good.

Thank you for the salvation that we have in Christ, our Lord, in whose name we pray, amen.

This is When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. There are lots of great Bible teaching programs on the web, and we thank you for selecting.

Ours.

But this is no replacement for regular fellowship with a church family. Find a good, gospel-teaching, Christ-centered church to worship with this weekend, and join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study When We Understand the Text.