"Doctrines of Demons" The Apostle Paul warned Timothy about false prophets and false teachers leading people astray from the faith:  “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth” (1 Timothy 4: 1-3).   What are “doctrines of demons?”  It is any teaching that proclaims that there is a way to be saved other than through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.   Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber…I am the door of the sheep”  (John 10: 1,7).  Jesus called false teachers  “thieves” because they prey upon the souls of men, leading them into certain judgment.  The devil is also called a “thief.”  “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (verse 10). The Bible proclaims, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” Acts 4:12).  God decreed in the Ten Commandments, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3).  The Lord told Moses, “You shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14).  God is jealous over His own with a holy, righteous jealousy, not the selfish, prideful jealousy of man.  It is the fear of God that kept the early church from submitting to doctrines of demons, even when faced with certain death.  The Romans threw the Christians in the coliseums with the hungry lions, not because they believed in Jesus, but because they believed in Christ alone.  If they had bowed down to the gods of Rome in addition to Jesus Christ, their lives would have been spared.  As our culture becomes increasingly pagan, hostility is growing towards Christians.  In a society where tolerance and political correctness are the standard for acceptable behavior,  terms like “sinner”, “lost” and “hell” are  considered “hate speech.”  Christians are labeled “right-wing fundamentalists.”  Jesus warned His disciples, “You will be hated by all for My name’s sake.  But he who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 10:22).    Jesus also promised His followers, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.  Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you”  (Matthew 5: 11-12).  The spirit of antichrist is in open operation in our nation and the world.  Doctrines of demons and humanistic wisdom are leading multitudes into eternal darkness.  There may come a time when the church is required to lay down her life in America and join her martyred Christian brothers and sisters who are presently suffering persecution in other nations of the world. “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”  (Matthew 10:28).