Seduction toward evil and away from God has been prevalent throughout history ever since the fall of humankind. The fact that we see all kinds of seduction resulting in leadership scandals in the body of Christ today should not be surprising—the enemy targets the most influential among us so he can destroy the faith of the most amount of people (Zech. 13:7).

The enemy of our souls utilizes this more than any other method to get believers and churches off track. The following are 10 forms of seduction Scripture warns us against:

1. Seduction away from the simplicity of the gospel

I am amazed at how quickly Satan was able to muster up false apostles, teachers and distorted versions of the Gospels in the first-century church! Consequently, Paul warned the Corinthian church that the devil was attempting to allure them away from a pure, sincere devotion to Christ (2 Cor. 11:1-6). Even now we see distortions of the gospel with the pervasiveness of hyper-grace preaching, espousing an antinomian heresy that there is no law or standards in the New Testament—to the point where believers are told they never have to confess sin post-conversion, a clear violation of 1 John 1:8-10.

2. Seduction through a doctrine of demons

The apostle Paul warned Timothy to be aware of the seducing (deceiving) spirits and teaching (doctrine) of demons (1 Tim. 4:1-2). John the apostle even warned against the infiltration of the spirit of the Antichrist, which came in the form of gnosticism that denied that Jesus came in the flesh (1 John 4:1-4).

There are many false religions in the world created by the teaching of demons; however, the writers of the New Testament are more concerned with unbiblical teachings surfacing within the church more than those outside the church.

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