1 Timothy 4:1- 6 seducing spirits

When I was much younger, lol... I believed that beauty belonged to the mirror. I used to think that I had to be thin, fair faced, well dressed, and manicured to find beauty.  Beauty poured from a bottle and begged to be understood by how I perceived others saw me.

As the years have faded the rose of my cheek, the plump of my smile, I have learned that, beauty is an art. It is the act of giving yourself to others so that the two of you (as friends) become one in emotion and experience. It cannot be ranked, competed with, or even measured. It comes from the heart. It comes from selfless love for nature, for others, for self, and for the community in which we live.

Beauty comes from a pure soul that seeks words of faith and the practice of good doctrine. As I thought of Paul's words about how there would be a falling away in the latter days, I was drawn to consider the seduction of what the world perceives to be beauty.


Two proverbs come to mind:
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder:
 beauty cannot be judged objectively, for what one person finds beautiful or admirable may not appeal to another.
Beauty is only skin-deep 
a pleasing appearance is not a guide to character.

If you look at Paul's words with the eye of beauty... you can see how the world has given us seducing spirits and doctrines of devils that teach (in relation to beauty) lies, hypocrisy, and other temptations.

Beauty cannot be owned. It cannot be held. It must be felt from within. True beauty comes from the soul.

Paul taught that a falling away would occur. An apostasy if you will. It would occur because of

A. Seducing (tempting) spirits
B. Doctrines of Devils
Together these would

• 1. speak lies (i.e.tell us that beauty is perfection. That beauty must be seen and never felt. 
• 2. hypocrisy  (i.e. hypocrites tell us that if we buy a certain product we will feel beautiful. The thing they forget to tell you is that no matter how beautiful you may look to another person, the only person that matters is you and it is not how you look, but rather how you feel.) 
• 3. sear your conscience . ( when you have been misled by media's perfect photo, pornography, harlots, materialism, lust, etc.. and you realize your mistake and all that you have lost, your conscience will cry out) 
• 4. forbid marriage ( this can be many things.. whatever forbids the organization, upkeep, and love of a family. Whatever there is that teaches you that the family is not important.. then you have been seduced by devilish doctrine. 
• 5. vegetarianism - Paul reminds us that the animal and plant kingdom both have been ordained for the use of man for both food and clothing.

These evil doctrines may come from old wives tales.. from traditions.

But in the latter day a few sources I have found: advertising, marketing, corporate greed, food that would harm us but we have been misled to consider that it is good for us, pornography, gaming, idle use of our time.

It is important for us to remember that in order to be a "good minister of Jesus Christ" we must nourish ourselves with the words of faith... and of good doctrine. We must be aware of such doctrines that would temp us to believe untruths. We must be vigilant in seeking out the true outcomes of our behaviors and how they will affect not only us but our future generations that will come in our families "latter times".


The most beautiful smiles come from the young heart yet untouched 
and the old soul who has given much.