Spellbound! #5

Wednesday, August 23, 2023

“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple” (Romans 16:17,18 KJV).

Let us analyze these “good words and fair speeches.”

Read Acts 24:1-27. Tertullus’ feel-good, inspirational, positive-thinking speech had its intended effect. Governor Felix was mesmerized to the point he cast aside all reason—forsaking whatever Roman ethics and jurisprudence he had learned. He was willing to—and did—continue to hold Paul as a prisoner, though lack of evidence of wrongdoing. Felix sought to please lost Israel, so he mistreated Paul (see Acts 24:27). The trial dragged on and on for two years, unresolved by the time Felix was removed from office (Roman Emperor Nero called him back to Rome on corruption charges!). Governor Porcius Festus, Felix’ successor, had to wrestle with the case, ultimately keeping Paul in bonds to appease lost Israel too (see Acts 25:9). If “good words” and “fair speeches” could and did pervert political/legal matters, it is no wonder today’s Scripture points to such errors as being utterly destructive in religious/spiritual cases.

Think of the term “spellbound.” Someone is figuratively bound (chained, shackled, trapped) by means of a dominating or irresistible influence. Another way of stating it is “fascinated,” “captivated,” or “charmed.” One prime example of this unfortunate state is found in Paul’s epistle to the Galatians, saints who started off in God’s grace but then listened to and believed the “convincing” legalists (Judaizers, denominationalists, works-religionists): “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:1-3).

Such “bewitching” flourishes in Christendom even to this present moment, and most church members are totally ignorant of the warning God the Holy Spirit issued in today’s Scripture….