Doctrine of Devils
📖 1 Timothy 4:1-5 (KJV) Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: 5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
📌 It’s very interesting to think that out of all the things, it’s these two practices that are called the doctrines of devils. I would have thought it would have been “works for salvation” as the number one doctrine of devils, but it’s these two things. And when I look into them, I think who would teach these things, and what’s so bad about them to be called the doctrines of devils?
✅ 1: Forbidding to Marry: Attacking God’s Design
“Forbidding to marry…” (v.3)
🔑 Why it’s a doctrine of devils:
• Marriage is God’s first institution (Genesis 2:18–24).
📖 Genesis 2:18-24 (KJV) And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. 19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. 20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. 21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
📌 To forbid marriage is to attack what God declared “very good.”
• Satan has always hated marriage, because it reflects Christ and His church
📖 Ephesians 5:31-33 (KJV) For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
• Any system that forbids marriage undermines family, purity, and God’s order.
💍 Marriage is honourable
📖 Hebrews 13:4 (KJV) Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
💍 Marriage is a safeguard against fornication
📖 1 Corinthians 7:2 (KJV) Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
💍 Marriage is better then to burn
📖 1 Corinthians 7:9 (KJV) But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
💍 Jesus affirms God’s design for marriage.
📖 Matthew 19:4-6 (KJV) And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Why Catholics Abstain from Marriage (Priests, Nuns, Monks, etc.)
1. The Rule of Celibacy for Priests
• The Roman Catholic Church requires priests especially in the Latin Rite to remain unmarried (celibate).
• They claim this is to imitate Christ (who never married) and to be “wholly devoted to God’s service” without the distractions of family.
• They base it loosely on 1 Corinthians 7:32–35, where Paul says the unmarried can serve the Lord without distraction.
But Paul never forbids marriage. In fact, he warns against doing exactly that (1 Tim. 4:3).
📖 1 Timothy 4:3 (KJV) Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
2. The Idea of “Higher Holiness”
• Catholic teaching has historically treated celibacy as a holier state of life than marriage.
• This comes from early church traditions, influenced by Greek philosophy and Gnosticism, which viewed the physical body and sexuality as “less pure.”
• Over time, this became institutionalized. By the 12th century, celibacy was made mandatory for Catholic priests in the West.
3. Why This Is Dangerous (Paul calls it a doctrine of devils)
• Genesis 2:18 – God said “It is not good that the man should be alone.” Marriage was His first institution, before sin.
• Hebrews 13:4 – “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled.”
• By forbidding marriage, the Catholic system calls “unholy” what God has called “honourable.”
• History has shown the fruit of this doctrine: scandals, secret sins, and broken lives because men were denied God’s ordained outlet for intimacy and companionship.
4. Difference from Paul’s Teaching
• Paul did say in 1 Corinthians 7 that singleness can be a gift and useful for ministry, but it is voluntary (“if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn,” v.9).
• The Catholic Church commands celibacy, turning something voluntary into a law — exactly what Paul warns is devilish.
Repression often leads to perversion (history proves this – scandals in celibate religious systems).
📌 Example: Catholic priesthood scandals are directly tied to enforced celibacy — the natural desire didn’t disappear, it turned into secret sin, This leads to many heinous acts which is devilish.
✅ 2: Abstaining from Meats: Rejecting God’s Provision
”…and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving.” (v.3)
🔑 Why it’s a doctrine of devils:
• God provided food for man from the beginning (Genesis 9:3).
📖 Genesis 9:2-3 (KJV) And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. 3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
• Christ declared all foods clean (Mark 7:18–19; Acts 10:9–15).
📖 Mark 7:18-19 (KJV) And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; 19 Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?
📖 Acts 10:9-16 (KJV) On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: 10 And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance, 11 And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: 12 Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. 13 And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. 14 But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. 15 And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. 16 This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.
• To forbid meats is to deny God’s goodness and provision, teaching that man can be “more holy” by rejecting what God gave. This is Satan’s old lie that God is holding something back (Genesis 3:1–5).
🔥 liberty in eating; “the kingdom of God is not meat and drink.”
Romans 14:2-3 (KJV) For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. 3 Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.
🔥 Touch not, taste not, handle not” = commandments of men, not God.
Colossians 2:20-22 (KJV) Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, 21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not; 22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?
Examples:
• Old Testament dietary laws (Leviticus 11) were temporary shadows, fulfilled in Christ.
• Jewish sects like the Essenes and later Gnostic heresies rejected foods as “unclean.”
• Modern cults (Seventh-day Adventists, etc.) elevate food laws to a spiritual standard echoing Paul’s warning.
Why Seventh-day Adventists Abstain from Meats
Their Foundational Belief
Seventh-day Adventists (SDAs) teach that God’s original diet in Eden was vegetarian (Genesis 1:29).
They believe returning to a “plant-based Eden diet” brings people closer to God?
Many follow this as part of what they call the health message?
Influence of Ellen G. White (their prophetess)
Ellen White (a founder of SDA, regarded as a prophetess) wrote extensively against eating meat.
She claimed God showed her in visions that meat eating was harmful spiritually and physically, and that in the end times God’s true people would abstain.
She linked meat-eating with sin and disease, even teaching that it dulls the mind to spiritual truth.
⚠️ This is extra-biblical revelation not the Word of God which is exactly what Paul warned against (Colossians 2:20–23).
Old Testament Food Laws
SDAs often use Leviticus 11 (clean and unclean meats) to support avoiding pork, shellfish, etc.
But those were temporary ceremonial laws for Israel, fulfilled in Christ (Colossians 2:14–17; Mark 7:18–19).
In the New Testament, God gave liberty: “Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving” (1 Tim. 4:4).
Why It’s Dangerous (a Doctrine of Devils)
It subtly teaches salvation or spirituality is tied to diet.
It questions God’s goodness in giving food: Genesis 9:3 – “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you.”
It creates a system of “holiness” based on food rules exactly what Paul condemned (Romans 14:17, Colossians 2:21–23).
✅ Summary:
Seventh-day Adventists abstain from meats because of:
Ellen G. White’s visions (extra-biblical authority),
misapplied Old Testament food laws, and
the belief that vegetarianism is spiritually superior.
Paul exposes this as devilish because it denies Christian liberty, adds human rules to God’s Word, and leads people away from the simplicity of the gospel.
📌 Application:
To command abstinence from foods is to question God’s goodness, add man’s rules to salvation, and place burdens on consciences. That’s why Paul calls it devilish.
⏰ Conclusion
📌 It's interesting to note that many cults and false religions promote one or both of these practices—abstaining from marriage or certain foods. These teachings are major red flags and often reveal the spiritual nature of the deception behind them. When people adopt these kinds of teachings, it often goes hand in hand with deeper spiritual issues sometimes even opening doors to demonic influence. Many New Age and occult groups also promote strict diets or celibacy as a way to achieve "spiritual enlightenment," but in reality, these practices can lead people into spiritual bondage. This is why we must be discerning. When teachings contradict the freedom we have in Christ, they are not just wrong they're dangerous.
