Charles Templeton was a very famous evangelist in the 1940s. It is said that during his evangelistic campaigns he would lead 150 people to Christ a day. It was truly amazing! Those that knew him believed that God had raised him up to turn America back to God. Then something tragic happened. Charles began to doubt God’s word. Soon he rejected the word or God as infallible and finally he forsook his Christian faith and ministry. He became a hardened skeptic.
A skeptic in a broad term is someone who questions his or other people’s beliefs. In this questioning he does not necessarily offer an alternative belief, he simply questions an existing belief. Not all questioning is bad. For instance, we need to be skeptical about certain things in the news, or facts we find on the internet. We need to be careful who we are listening to.
Thankfully as believers we have been given a Bible that has been perfectly preserved and is infallible. Jesus said in Matthew 5:18 “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” You are in good company when you believe the Bible. There is no greater defence for the word of God than the words of the resurrected Christ!
Skepticism is dangerous when it is used by the devil to get us to question God. The greatest skeptic in history, if the word could be rightly used, is the Devil. In the Garden when he tempted Eve he asked a simple question: Hath God said? In this moment he did not deny what God had said, he simply asked if God really had said it. The power of a doubt left unanswered began to work in the heart of Eve.
The next step the devil did was to outright deny what God had said. He offered a tantalizing alternative, something that played on Eve’s desires and emotions. This combination of skepticism followed by an enticing lie is a powerful combination. In nearly every temptation, fear is followed by flattery and too often we fall for this snare.
What is the solution? How can we avoid falling ? The solution is to resist the devil at the first sign of skepticism. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness he answered the devil with scripture. Jesus’ heart was filled with faith in the words of God. The Devil had to flee! Had Eve responded with faith to the Devil’s skepticism, he would not have been able to move her to the next step of a flattering lie.
To question something is not a sin, but embracing a question and putting it in a higher place than truth is doubt. Doubt is sin and will paralyze your walk with Jesus. If the fiery dart of doubt can stick, the flame will burn, doing great damage to you as a believer. You will be opened up to the lustful lie, the evil alternative which will ultimately lead you, like Eve or Charles, into a life of sin.
Hearing Charles’ story is sobering. Satan is a liar and a murderer who would love to wreck your faith in much the same way. Satan does not want the gospel to go forward. If he can get you to doubt the Bible, he can stop you for speaking for Christ. If he can get you to stop speaking for Christ, he can keep you from bringing sinners to Christ. This is his ultimate intention.
If you will be successful in winning this spiritual battle, you must raise the shield of faith every time you get a skeptical thought. A raised shield of faith will cause Satan’s fiery darts to harmlessly bounce to the ground. Listen to God! Raise the shield of faith! Take every thought into captivity under Christ and you will win the well fought day!
Will Esayenko is an evangelist from Alberta, Canada. He was trained at Baptist College of Ministry in Menomonee Falls, WI. He traveled twice with Bobby Bosler as a team captain doing youth evangelistic work during his college years. It is his goal to see a new church planting movement established in Western Canada.
