Satanic Infiltration

Acts 15:1-4

“And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.” (Acts 15:1)

The Jewish leaders had hated Jesus and the church because they feared his teaching would cause them to lose control. They had fostered racial prejudice for the same reason. While it is easy to condemn the Jews for it, every culture in the world has done the same thing, often using another groups prejudice as justification for their own. It’s using the focus against a common enemy to distract from internal conflict. Until something happens to force us to examine such behavior, people often accept it as right without question, and resist anything different.

It is far easier to take over an established organization than to grow one from the ground up. This is why so many successful Wall street companies experience takeovers. Somebody else has done all the hard work, and by taking over, one can reap the benefits without having to work at it. Often the ones who take over are only interested in gaining a quick profit and leave the company as an empty shell. They wouldn’t touch a company that wasn’t making a profit because there is nothing to steal.

When a church or group is small and struggling, only those who believe in what it stands for have much interest in being involved with it. As it grows, however, more and more people begin to see it as a way to attain their own goals. Some are like the man I worked for briefly, who joined High Street Baptist Church and recommended I do so because it was the largest church in town and membership was good for business. Others are more concerned with the power and prestige they could derive from a large group, or the money they could obtain if they had control.

As the church at Jerusalem had grown, and attempts to destroy it failed, some of the Jews who had initially opposed it began to consider taking it over instead. Like Judas, they joined the church because they thought they could benefit from membership, although they had no interest in Christ himself. Paul said they were “…false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:” in Galatians 2:4. Their goal was to obtain control.

When Peter went to Caesarea and preached at Cornelius’ house, they had confronted him about it as Acts 11:2-3 described. “And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them.” When it was conclusively demonstrated that Gentiles could be saved, they changed their tune slightly.

When they came to Antioch, they were no longer teaching that Gentiles could not be saved. They were teaching that they could be saved, but only if they converted to Judaism. This would still give Jewish leaders control of the church. The same basic doctrine is still promoted that one must join a particular organization in order to be saved, whether Catholic, or Mormon, or some other group.

“When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.” (Acts 15:2)

The Jewish Christians in Antioch probably accepted the teaching without question because it was what they’d been raised with and assumed it to be true, but the Gentiles were bothered by it. Paul and Barnabas, led by the Spirit, took a strong stand against it. Finally, the church sent trusted men to Antioch to consult with the Apostles about what was right. At the time, much of the New Testament had not been written, so the only was of being sure what Christ had taught was by talking to those who had been taught and appointed by him, the apostles. Once the scriptures were complete, the need for office of an apostle ceased, as did the need for prophecy to tell God’s day to day plan.

“And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren.” (Acts 15:3)

The church at Antioch sent them on to Jerusalem to make sure exactly what God had said. Afoot, it was a major journey, and they passed through Phenice and Samaria telling that the Gentiles had been saved. Philip had been instrumental in starting the Church in Samaria with people of mixed ancestry, many of whom had relatives that were not Jewish. Imagine the rejoicing to know that their relatives could be saved as well.

“And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.” (Acts 15:4)

Once again we see the difference in attitude the Holy Spirit makes. They were talking about what God had done with them, rather than about what they had done. Unspiritual people will seldom detect the difference, and initially the results seem the same but ultimately, they are totally different.

Many times we get impatient that things change so slowly since reading acts, we get the feeling that these things happened much more rapidly than we experience them. In Galatians 2:1- 4, Paul gives us a better picture of the time frame. “Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also. And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain. But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised: And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:”

Fourteen years after meeting with Peter and James in Acts 9:27, and seventeen years after his salvation in Acts 9:6, Paul went to Jerusalem to meet the other Apostles who were still alive. People had gotten used to the church and there was no longer the fear of being a Christian we see in Acts 5:13. “And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them.” Unsaved people had no hesitation to join the church, even though they had not changed their beliefs. While there were still Spirit filled men in the leadership, an unspiritual group had began to be absorbed over the years.

Peter warned, “…there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction,” in II Peter 2:1. Every church and organization runs into this as time passes. As the original leaders step down, the false teachers attempt to gain control.