“Let no one rob you of your prize by a voluntary humility and worshipping of the angels, dwelling in the things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,”

It is too easy to be sidetracked by spiritual folly. It is too easy to lose your reward by falling into sins and falling way from the Lord. There are people who seem very spiritual and seem to know a lot about the Scripture and are good at putting their ideas across, especially in the media. They have winning personalities that can draw us to what they say. Unfortunately what they say is not wholly right and true and their words are contaminated by error. This error involves a kind of self-righteous, self-conscious humility that is not true but appears to be sincere. Maybe they mean well, maybe they know what they are about, but whatever their motivation it draws people away for the truth of the scripture and to put faith in angels, signs and wonders and all kinds of false doctrines. 

Some of the speakers in the media are very full of themselves and focus on the things that they know rather that the study of the Word of God. They talk lucidly and knowledgable about any number of things that they have worked out in their own lives and have gained a kind of wisdom that is endearing and somewhat helpful to the hearers. But the power of the Word of God is not there, and the doctrine is shallow and applied in a worldly way to the situations that people find themselves in. Speakers can become puffed up very easily, especially if they get some kind of success at what they do and are recognised as important and insightful. Many are a great stumbling block because the Scripture is not presented fully or deeply and people are just encouraged to self-help their lives into a better place. Prayer becomes a means to an end of getting the things that you want. 

The gospel of good news and hope of how a holy God can reconcile sinful people to Himself gets lost, and we get a second-rate message about having God’s help in our lives. The rescue message of the cross of Christ is lost in the cacophony of self-promotion. We get tired of the Word and prefer the soundbite of the tele-evangelists and so sound doctrine and the sincere meat of the Word gets left out for psychological insights. 

We should shun those who soft-peddle the Word of God and who’s words will make us shallow Christians and too worried about the things of this present life and not about the eternal life we possess. We cannot lose our salvation but we can lose the reward. We can become lazy and complacent about our Christian service and our witness for Christ before the people we know. Finding ourselves dependant on the injection of the preachers who flatter and cajole us, our faith is undermined and we become weaker. 

We are instructed to resist those who would glorify angels and any being other than Christ. He is our Lord and God and we worship Him alone. But there are those who are too interested in other heavenly beings and would encourage us to superstition and false worship. The messengers of God in the Revelation of John, urged the Apostle to not worship them, because they were created beings just like him. 

“I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!”

Revelation 22:8-9

God alone is the uncreated light and He alone should receive our worship. There are also those who teach that we need the intercession of Mary, angels and worthy Saints to gain favour with God. This is falsehood since the dead have no part with us and Christ alone is the mediator between God and people. 

These people look rashly into subjects that they know nothing about nor is it revealed in the Scripture. They make up false dogma about such entities and confuse many. We accept the headship of Christ and no one else and trust in Him alone for the salvation and sanctification of our souls. Only He through the message of the Word of God can purify us and make us fit for Him. Let us not be puffed up in pride at our own “research” and our own fleshly outlook on the things that are of God. We hold fast to the Apostles doctrine and keep our eyes fixed on Jesus as our Lord and God.