Searing the Conscience
Robert Wurtz II
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in 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. (1 Timothy 4:1, 2)
Our passage deals with events that would take place in latter times, which could be translated as “latter seasons.” These times or seasons will continue until Christ’s coming at the second advent (second coming). These are times of great deception and are characterized by some departing the faith due to demons animating false teachers with power and doctrine. Paul warns Timothy and then adds, “If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.” (1 Timothy 4:6 KJV)
We must know that the enemy seeks opportunities to introduce falsehood into churches to cause them to “depart from the faith.” That is his primary objective and standard operating procedure (modus operandi). Destroying souls is his primary business.
Seared Conscience
When people refuse to agree with God’s word, they are searing their conscience. When the conscience is seared, the mind is no longer summonsed to weigh the truth of an action or idea. The Greek word for seared is the root for our word cauterize. A seared or cauterized conscience makes the person dangerous to the church because they normalize behaviors that God says are sinful.
The expression “pain of conscience” describes a person who feels the pricking of their conscience when they’ve done wrong. Without this pricking, the conscience does not influence the person or confront their bad behavior. When the conscience is seared, the person feels no pain of conscience. Where once the sinful behavior wore on the mind, now the person can sin without any pain of conscience. This is a dreadful state of being. The person goes on sinning and rebelling against God with no sense that they must confess their sins and repent. They are given over to their sin.
Synchronized Knowledge
Some refer to an aspect of the conscience as sequent; that is to say, it follows action. God placed in all people the ability to judge right from wrong. This enables us to make judgments about many things, especially our deeds. The effects of conscience were first seen when Adam and Eve sinned, clothed themselves with fig leaves, and hid themselves from the Face of Jehovah (Genesis 3:8). They knew God’s will and transgressed it. Their sin was before their minds.
The pain of conscience followed their action. Knowledge of God’s will informs the conscience to function correctly. This is why it is important to divide the word of truth rightly. The word of God informs the conscience. False teachings deceive people and impairs the conscience.
Everyone is born with this moral sense of right and wrong because God created humankind in His image (Romans 1). People may bury their conscience under years of rebellion and darkness, but everyone started with a sense of what is “fair” or “right.” People know how others ought to behave and how they ought to act unless they seared their conscience. In other words, we know how we want to be treated but don’t treat others that way. It is incredible how easy it is for some people to dismiss the golden rule. Treating others in ways we don’t want to be treated is evidence of a seared conscience.
Conscience and the Nervous System
Everyone is born with a basic sense of right and wrong. The conscience weighs our actions against what we sincerely believe is right. It is like an umpire in our hearts making judgment calls. It is unaffiliated with our desires. Some have said that God placed the conscience in man to give Himself a voice in our hearts.
The faculty of conscience is tied directly to our hard wiring as human beings. Ron Bailey once said, “Lie detector tests are based on the science that although we may be very proficient at telling lies, whenever we do so, we trigger a kind of spiritual smoke alarm which alters the rhythms of our bodies. God sharpened this universal sense of right and wrong in the Ten Words given to Israel, and it had a God-wards factor too in making God the center of our affections and allegiances.”
When we go against our conscience, it can be detected electrically if we are attached to the correct type of equipment. What, then, is a seared conscience? When the “smoke alarm” has been “seared,” it no longer functions properly. Figuratively, the room is full of smoke, but the detector remains silent.
Refusing to Agree
When people refuse to agree with God, they are not allowing Him to be true. They are calling Him a liar. (1 John 1:10) They then substitute their false religious views for His. Paul gives an example of this when he writes of those who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. (1 Timothy 4:3) These are artificial laws that the Gnostics would adhere to. They have nothing to do with God but are an example of how paganism can gain entrance into Christianity under the guise of being “spiritual.” It is an ancient lie.
Understand that it is impossible to improve upon the Spirit-filled life. No amount of rules can improve on someone walking in the Spirit and thereby establishing the law. As we have seen in the so-called Catholic priesthood, celibacy may give a show of wisdom in will worship, but it opens the door to much greater sins and evil. Why? Because God did not place these restraints on man, Satan has done it to give himself an occasion to tempt men for their lack of self-control (1 Corinthians 7:5, Colossians 2:20-23).
“A concomitant of legalism and mysticism is asceticism. It is the pseudo-spiritual position that revels in rules of physical self-denial. Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch! These prohibitions increase from not handling to not even touching. This same legalism was manifest in Eve’s carnal exaggeration, ‘You must not touch it, or you will die.'” (BK Comm. Genesis 3:3; cf. Genesis 2:16-17) This is not what God said. To say more or to say less than what God said is to lie against the truth; one path leads to legalism, and the other to license.
Modern Application
A few years ago, Dr. Carl F. Henry, founder and editor of Christianity Today, sent out a questionnaire to what he called “Twenty of the leading intellectual preachers in the country.” And the question he sent out was this: “What do you see for the church of Jesus Christ by the year 2000.” I remember only one of the replies Elton Trueblood, the Quaker philosopher, gave it. He said this amazing thing: “By the year 2000, the church will be a conscious minority surrounded by an arrogant, militant paganism.” (Frequently found quoted by Leonard Ravenhill)
One only needs to look at the plethora of posts on social media lauding the fining and jailing of Christians who refuse to support the gay agenda to see that Elton Trueblood was speaking prophetically. One lady wrote concerning the jailing of the clerk in Kentucky, “Now let’s go after those cake people!” For her, fining the folks who refused to bake the gay wedding cake was not harsh enough. These militant pagans not only want the right to marry as homosexuals, but they also want to force that view on everyone else, “jailing” the opposition.
What is worse is that some Christians have departed from the faith and joined the ranks of those who agree with practicing homosexuals. Some may have been grievous wolves waiting to come out of the closet. Listening to some of the things I hear Christians saying, it’s hard to know who is on what team these days. Do they agree with God or the gay agenda? Do they support God’s people or this present evil world? Do they think they can straddle the fence?
Deadly Decisionism
The evangelistic methods of the last 100 years are now coming home to roost. In modern times, we are suffering terribly from the effects of decisionism. Multitudes have prayed a prayer, raised their hand, signed a card, etc., but have not been regenerated. Their conscience is still seared even though they have made a profession of faith. They would feel differently about sin if they had been regenerated (in the biblical sense). The unregenerate have a carnal mind that sees God’s word as foolishness. The carnal mind is at enmity with God. It’s a simple question, but “if a person refuses to agree with God’s word, how can the Spirit that inspired the word live inside them?”
Born Again or Not?
If a person’s attitude towards sin has not changed, they cannot possibly be born again. It is written, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them (…) Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations” (Ezekiel 36:26–27, 31 NKJV).
Focus on the words “Then you will remember…” The born-again experience in the New Covenant radically alters a person’s attitude toward sin. They may have been proud of their sinful life before, but they view their sin completely differently once the new heart and Spirit come in.
In these latter times, we don’t need another healing revival. We don’t need another smooth-talking inspirational speaker spouting platitudes and hopes for financial prosperity. The Gospel must be preached as it was once delivered to the Saints, which is the Gospel that changed the world in the book of Acts. We must strip off the doctrinal grave clothes of generations that bind the minds of multitudes, preventing them from being born of the Spirit.
Departing from the Faith
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in latter times some shall depart from the faith.” What faith? The faith as it has been preached for the last 100 years? No! Multitudes have departed from the faith that was once delivered to the saints. They have forsaken the faith that we are supposed to be contending for (Jude 3). This is the faith that can reverse the effects of a seared conscience. Nothing else will do it.
Nevertheless, many will continue giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy and having their conscience seared with a hot iron. The Spirit has expressly spoken this, and it is happening. Our only hope is to ensure we don’t fall prey to it.
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