How RASN’s Take Control

Galatians 1:10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

In his rebuke of the Galatian churches, the Apostle Paul writes that he is astonished at how quickly these Christians had fallen for a false gospel. False teachers, false brethren, had crept into the churches and introduced a gospel of grace PLUS. Merit had to be earned, they said. And the way to do it was by works of the Law – keeping certain Old Testament ceremonies and such. But the moment even a crumb of our works are added, grace is no longer grace, the gospel is no longer the gospel, and those who introduce this infection are damned by God.

How had these counterfeits taken control of the churches there? I think we see the answer here:

Gal 4:17 They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them.

They used flattery. They pretended to really care for these Galatians. They praised them. And this blinded the eyes of those gullible believers.

When we in Christ’s church begin to show partiality to anyone, we are opening the door to some RASN to control the church. That is what they had done – shown partiality. They were impressed with these false teachers. They failed to be consistent and obey this:

Gal 1:8-9 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. (9) As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Most all of us, myself included, have been guilty in this regard. We have shown partiality. Instead of testing and rebuking, we accepted. Then one day the Lord mercifully revealed who the wicked ones were and we realized we had been duped. And not just duped, but complicit in these wicked ones program to exalt themselves. Complicit because we failed to do this:

1Ti 5:21 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality.

Jas 2:1 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.

Why did we do it? Well, in part because the RASN is very deceptive. He is a liar like his father the devil. But we also did it perhaps because we wanted to believe the RASN was who he claimed to be, by his disguise. One time a lady who was married to a RASN asked me, “I wonder why I married him?” I assured her that she was deceived by him as we all have been by this kind. But in later years I have realized that there may well have been something in it for her – economic security, reputation, etc. If so, she was showing partiality and suppressing the truth.

I do not say these things to condemn anyone – I have been guilty of partiality to these kind too. I hope I have seen the thing clearly now so that I won’t do it again. Pushing down red warning lights that we often feel more than we see. Because we don’t want to believe our RASN is anything less than what he claims to be. Taking his side in conflicts. Covering for him when his mask slips. All these things and more are partiality, and James tells us partiality is sin –

Jas 2:9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

If we reject this sinful partiality and stand for Christ’s truth when we see someone sinning, guess what other good thing is going to happen? The mask will come off completely if we are dealing with a RASN. These kind never repent. They never admit their own sin and guilt. They lash out when confronted or when told “no.” But as long as we show partiality to them, permitting them to be what they crave to be among us, the deception will continue and they will remain in control.