This blog is based on a message by Pastor Todd Cosenza.
God’s way is the best way. God’s plan is the best plan. And because His way is best, God’s people need to be willing to deal with deception when it tries to make its way into the church.
There is a common idea that God will simply protect every believer from deception. But that is not how it works. God equips His people to recognize the difference between truth and error, between the philosophies of the world and the truth of His Word. Then He calls us to make a choice: reject deception and remain faithful to Him.
The church must understand the season it is in. All of Scripture is always true, alive, and available to us. Yet, just as a winter coat has a particular purpose during a particular season, there are moments when God calls His people to give special attention to a specific issue.
This is one of those moments. The church must deal with the issue of deception.
A Warning From Titus: Deception Must Be Addressed
In Titus 1, the apostle Paul writes to Titus, whom he had left on the island of Crete to help establish churches and appoint leaders. God was moving, people were coming to faith, and local churches were being formed. But Paul knew that spiritual growth would require spiritual protection.
Paul warned Titus that deception was coming and that it would need to be confronted. Titus 1:10 describes rebellious people who were full of empty talk and deception, particularly among those connected to the circumcision group.
The important point is this: the danger was not merely outsiders coming into the church and teaching something false. The danger was people connected to the church embracing false ideas and then trying to persuade others that those ideas were right.
That is often how deception works. It begins when people take in the world’s philosophies, return to the body of Christ, and attempt to convince God’s people that the Word of God is wrong or outdated.
External pressure has often caused the church to grow stronger and grow. The greater danger comes from division within. When false teaching spreads, people argue, forgiveness disappears, households are disrupted, and leaders fail to address what is happening.
Truth Must Matter More Than Success
Paul’s instruction in Titus 1:11 is strong: those spreading destructive teaching must be silenced because they are upsetting whole households and teaching things they should not teach for dishonest gain.
A true teacher of God’s Word seeks God’s glory. The goal is for God to be honored, known, and lifted up. A false teacher has a selfish motive involved. It may be money, influence, popularity, personal comfort, or an agenda that puts self ahead of God.
That is why church leadership carries such a serious responsibility. Pastors and leaders cannot allow the opinions of the world to reshape the teaching of the church. The calling is not to say whatever keeps the most people happy. The calling is to speak the truth of God’s Word and leave the results in God’s hands.
Truth is more important than earthly success.
Churches can grow, thrive, and prosper by the blessing of God. But that is not the same thing as worldly success. The church cannot trade truth for popularity. Jesus stood for truth, and His church must stand for truth too.
Why Sharp Rebuke Can Be Loving
Titus 1:12 records a harsh description of the moral condition on Crete. The deception had not remained a small issue. It began with individuals, spread into households, and eventually affected the wider culture of the island, which at the time had more than 250,000 people.
Paul’s answer in Titus 1:13 was not to ignore it. He told Titus to rebuke sharply so that people could become sound in the faith and stop paying attention to myths and human commands that reject the truth.
That may sound intense, but rebuke is about correction and protection. A sharp rebuke is not about being cruel to people. It is about refusing to be gentle with lies that destroy people.
Jesus modeled this. He was loving, kind, merciful, and compassionate. But He also rebuked the Pharisees, rebuked His disciples, rebuked the wind and waves, and rebuked sickness and evil. Jesus did not compromise with what opposed truth.
The church needs to represent all of Jesus. We need His compassion for people caught in sin and deception. We also need His courage to confront what is false and help people walk in freedom.
Being nice to deception is not love. It allows lies to grow. God calls His people to love others enough to tell the truth.
The Lens of a Pure or Corrupted Heart
Titus 1:15 says that to the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Their minds and consciences have become corrupted.
This passage reveals an important principle: the lens in a person’s heart affects how they see everything around them.
Some people look at the church and conclude that every church is corrupt, every pastor is wrong, and gathering with God’s people is no longer worth it. There is a difference between someone sincerely seeking a healthy church and someone who has decided that the church itself is beyond redemption.
The church is not perfect. Pastors are not perfect. People are not perfect. But God loves His church, and He has a holy purpose for His people gathering together.
Through a pure lens, a believer can see the weaknesses of a church without becoming consumed by criticism. They can say, “This is not perfect, but God is at work here. I am going to add to the good. I am going to bless instead of complain.”
That is what it means to see with the perspective of God’s Word.
The same principle touches our culture, our families, our marriages, and our communities. A corrupted heart sees corruption everywhere and wants to tear everything down. It sees no purpose worth preserving because it believes it knows better than God.
But that is the ancient lie. It is the lie that says, “I know better than God, so I will remake what He has made according to my own desires.”
Deception begins there. It begins when we abandon God’s truth and put ourselves in His place.
That is why the first place deception must be rebuked is in our own hearts. It starts with me. It starts with us.
Five Common Deceptions Attacking the Church
1. “God is love,” meaning God is only love
God is love. Scripture makes that clear. But the deception comes when people redefine that truth to mean that God is nothing but love, with no holiness, righteousness, justice, commands, or call to repentance.
This false idea says that whatever a person wants to do must be acceptable because God is loving and would never ask anyone to change.
But God is not only love. God is also holy.
We need both truths together:
- God is love.
- God is holy.
These are like guardrails on a mountain road. God’s love keeps us from becoming harsh, cold, and self-righteous. God’s holiness keeps us from falling into compromise and calling sin acceptable. We do not need to cling to one guardrail or the other. We need to walk in the middle, where love and holiness are both honored.
There are things that break God’s heart because they are against His will. At the same time, we are called to love people, including people whose lives do not align with God’s commands. Truth and love belong together.
2. Jesus did not speak against a gay lifestyle, so He affirms it
This claim ignores the fullness of Scripture. The Bible is not limited to the four Gospels. The New Testament contains 27 books, and the whole Bible contains 66 books that reveal God’s heart, His design, and His call to holy living. The Bible is clear that a gay lifestyle is not holy living.
Jesus taught extensively about morality and pointed people toward God’s better way. The rest of the New Testament also provides teaching on sexual ethics and holiness. We cannot choose only the passages that feel easiest to accept and dismiss the rest.
All of God’s Word is important. All of it gives life. All of it reveals truth.
3. God has no biological sex, so He is trans-affirming
God is Spirit. Yet throughout Scripture, God consistently reveals Himself using masculine titles and pronouns. He identifies Himself as Father and King, and He is repeatedly referred to as “He.”
God has chosen how to reveal Himself. We honor Him by receiving that revelation rather than adding our own preferred descriptions to it.
From Genesis through Revelation, Scripture consistently presents God as Father. Jesus taught His followers to pray to “our Father” in Matthew 6:9. God’s self-revelation is not something we are free to redefine.
4. There are no more apostles and prophets
Another common belief is that apostles and prophets ended with the early church, while evangelists, pastors, and teachers remain.
But Ephesians 4:11 groups apostles and prophets together with evangelists, pastors, and teachers. If two of those ministry gifts are removed, why would the others remain? We cannot pick and choose which parts of God’s Word we want to receive.
The gifts and ministries God gives His church are for the strengthening and equipping of His people. We receive all of God’s Word, not merely the parts that fit comfortably within our assumptions.
It is all of it or none of it. We choose all of it.
5. Miracles were only for Jesus and the early church
The miraculous was never meant to be treated as a distant part of Bible history. God’s power is woven throughout the whole story of Scripture, and His power is still for His people today.
Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Heaven is full of God’s power, victory, healing, blessing, and glory. Jesus calls His people to believe for those heavenly realities to touch life on earth.
Jesus also taught that those who believe can ask in prayer and receive according to God’s will, bringing glory to the Father. Faith matters. If we decide in advance that God will not move, we may become self-fulfilling prophets who never ask or expect anything from Him.
But even mustard-seed faith can become a starting place. Start small. Trust God for something. Receive a testimony of His faithfulness. Then let that testimony build your faith to believe Him for greater things.
Jesus still wants to show up in power in the lives of His people.
Stay Alert Without Living in Fear
There is deception in the world, but there is no reason for fear. God has given His church His Word, His Spirit, and leaders who are called to protect the flock.
Rejecting deception is not complicated. It means believing God’s Word, walking in His truth, and calling out what does not belong.
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). The Holy Spirit leads God’s people into all truth (John 16:13). We do not have to invent our own truth or struggle to create our own moral foundation. God has given us truth.
The goal is not to spend every moment hunting for deception. We live for Jesus. We love Jesus. We serve Jesus. But we also keep our eyes open and remain alert, just as He commanded.
When something that does not belong in the kingdom of God tries to slip in, do not make peace with it. Do not be afraid to call it out. We do not have to be nice to lies and deception.
God’s church must deal with deception early, before a small weed becomes a stronghold. As we remain rooted in God’s Word, committed to truth, and strong in the Lord and in His mighty power, God will continue to do great things among His people.
Application Questions
- What lens am I using to evaluate the church, my family, my community, and my own life: a pure lens shaped by God’s Word or a corrupted lens shaped by disappointment and criticism?
- Are there areas where I have embraced only part of God’s character while ignoring the rest, such as emphasizing love without holiness or holiness without love?
- Have I allowed the opinions of culture to carry more weight than the truth of Scripture?
- What deception may be taking root in my heart that I need to confront through repentance, prayer, and God’s Word?
- Where is God inviting me to believe Him for a miracle, beginning with even the smallest measure of faith?
