Oddly enough, the biggest threat to salvation are those ministers who think they can correct themselves and refuse the Lord’s covenant and apostolic character. By their refusal, they deny the Lord and continue to hold onto and teach their own doctrine.

This is dangerous because they appear to represent Christ and His redemptive work without actually possessing the pattern for faith God works with. This refusal of Jesus’ covenant has brought the fear and the confusion the present established church now finds itself in.

Jesus brought this charge against the religious leaders of His time, saying:

Matthew 23:13-15

¹³ But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

¹⁴ Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

¹⁵ Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

God is making an important distinction here for believers between what the scribes and Pharisees thought they represented (God’s kingdom) and what they actually represented (themselves).

The scribes and Pharisees did not proclaim themselves as the ones deceived, the ones shutting the door to God’s kingdom. Jesus had to point out to them that they were the greatest threat to salvation. They couldn’t see their true state, but Jesus did, and He used the word “hypocrite” to contend with them, and He said it three times.

What is a hypocrite?

A hypocrite is one who is true to themselves. They invent religious traditions to replace God’s covenant. A hypocrite uses scriptures as a self-referencing tool to confirm what is true about the inward man. The pattern Jesus challenged did not die with the Pharisees; it simply changed clothing. The same spirit that governed their use of scripture governs the false ministers of today.

A hypocrite designs alternate paths to God, just as false ministers do today. Thousands of examples are daily shared on social media. Let’s walk through the first example together:

You might have heard it said: “Prosperity is about having enough to fulfill a God-given assignment and enough left over to bless others.” –Kap Chatfield

Before we examine the deception, we must undo Satan’s overwrite of the phrase “God‑given assignment”. That phrase has become one of the enemy’s most effective Trojan horses in the modern church.

There is only one God‑given assignment: to bring people into the ark of Jesus’ covenant and equip them to fulfill His purpose to be fruit bearers in His kingdom. Everything else the modern church calls an “assignment” is Satan’s counterfeit, a ministry-shaped diversion that replaces Jesus’ covenant and His apostolic stewardship.

When ministers abominate Jesus’ new covenant stewardship and priesthood and teach believers to follow their example, will God indeed bless the works of their hands? Jesus taught that the desire to do God’s will must be framed by His covenant. Otherwise, both prayer and labor are in vain. (Mt. 15:8-9)

⦁ Jesus unmasks Satan’s deception: first remove the God-given priesthood, then redefine “prosperity” in its absence.

The first example reveals the core of the enemy’s strategy: to eliminate Jesus’ covenant framework and rebuild teaching in man’s image. The pattern continues in the second example:

You might have heard it preached: “Any pastor who does not address these things [how our nation has forgotten God] is an idle shepherd.” – Jack Hibbs

Yet Jesus made a different distinction: “The idle shepherd is the one who has forgotten My covenant.”

2 Kings 17:38
And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods.

This is the testimony in the present established church, and the reason God is correcting it. Believers have not stopped praying, humbling themselves, or seeking God. They simply have not been given the true pattern for their faith in Jesus’ covenant to be fruitful. That pattern begins with the apostolic character—the true stewardship of God.

Yet ministry leaders ask, “Lord, how have we forgotten your covenant?”

⦁ neglecting to teach God’s covenant terms for contact according to Christ
⦁ refusing to teach why God’s covenant terms for reciprocation are necessary
⦁ denying how God’s covenant terms function together
⦁ failing to equip the saints in their priesthood with Jesus’ tools

This is what it means to forget God. Covenant terms operate like a closed, God‑governed ecosystem according to the apostolic character. This is why Jesus’ covenant is the only ark of safety. It is the only system God recognizes because it is the only system He authored through the blood of Jesus. God set the foundation of our faith in Jesus. (1 Cor. 3:10-11)

Because Jesus is God’s foundation, we know what God’s foundation is not.

⦁ the inner record of man is not God’s foundation
⦁ the Bible is not God’s foundation
⦁ Satan’s counterfeit gospel is not God’s foundation

God is shattering your confidence in false foundations. People have grown so accustomed to the counterfeit they didn’t realize how Satan had taken everything out of the foundation that the Holy Spirit works with to form Christ within.

The second example let’s us see Satan’s craft: once the covenant is forgotten, salvation is rebuilt in man’s image. This is the biggest threat to salvation—Satan replaces God’s foundation with a counterfeit that feels right but has no power to save. And this same deception repeats in the third example:

You might have heard it taught that: “We can experience a life of continual peace and fulfillment… by getting our minds focused inside ourselves, where God’s Spirit dwells, rather than looking outside for happiness.” – Kirt Schneider

Satan’s advice follows this devastating starting point. His ministers are heard to say:

⦁ stop considering how other people see you
⦁ stop fixating on what we have or don’t have
⦁ quit thinking that we can be satisfied by the things of the world.

The Lord reveals the counterfeit start—it starts with struggle—it starts with what not to do which removes Jesus’ covenant entirely.

Where does God start?

God teaches us how to reason with Him by starting with His one, whole, complete foundation of truth in Jesus. He equips us with knowledge that was born in Himself. The Lord sends His apostles to place that knowledge in you so you can function in the fulness of Christ.

The Lord lifts the lid off the counterfeit gospel by showing you that ministry leaders refuse to build with Him. The carnal counsel they offer—those three “stop doing this” directives—does not come from Jesus’ foundation at all. It simply exposes the inner struggles of ministers in the wilderness church where the Spirit of God is absent.

⦁ The biggest threat to salvation is the counterfeit gospel.

There is fear in the false church, but this is not the fear of God but the fear of man. The Lord has already warned us that false Christs will come and deceive many and that in the world we will have tribulation, but the deciding factor has always been God’s covenant. (Mt. 24:5; Jn. 16:33)

God is cleansing His house. In Revelation, when “the Spirit and the Bride say, Come!” God’s invitation is not to water baptism or communion tables, but to Christ Himself.

Through the covenant of Jesus Christ, the conscience is purged by faith to reflect Him, which brings joy to the heart. But those who refuse Him go back to the law to silence their defiled conscience, inventing their own paths which God condemns. (Gal. 3:3; Heb. 10:29)

To deepen your understanding of this third example, let me share a portion from Apostle Eric vonAnderseck’s new book, Apostles Restore the Lost Foundation. In the following excerpt, he uncovers the real danger behind the modern call to “look within”. When fallen ministers hand you the devil’s manual for “getting in touch with your inner man”, they do not simply reshape your inner reasoning — they sanction the inward focus itself.

The Lord removes the blindfold so you can see how they authorize the very turn Satan needs to remove Jesus’ covenant and replace it with the illusion of divine guidance. This inward turn is not accidental. It is the devil’s exemption system at work, granting you “permission” to trust the inner man’s witness as if it were the Spirit of God. Let’s get into that section now:

“We’re getting into a section of teaching that is very important to God: the “Spirit‑led” exemption Satan designed as the perfect hiding place for his counterfeit gospel. The devil gives the illusion of divine guidance without the covenant stewardship, priesthood, and spiritual tools God uses to work in you.

The devil says, “You are exempt from Jesus’ covenant,” and then he issues many permission slips to support that lie. The one we are examining now is the permission to be “Spirit‑led” as a substitute for covenant contact.

It gives ministers the sense that they are “where God wants them”, “Spirit‑led”, or “waiting on the Spirit”, while actually denying Jesus’ covenant contact for fruit bearing and setting alternate paths that slip in many strange doctrines.

The apostles were not confronting witchcraft, Satanism, occult practices, or Freemasonry. They confronted the false ministers Satan placed within the church. And God is again exposing that same deceptive pattern now embedded in the Frankenstein movements that shaped the Charismatic and Evangelical communities—teachings handed to the church without apostolic oversight.

Believers are trained to trust their own impressions, gut feelings, and spiritual instincts as if these were the voice of God. Let’s look at a few familiar examples—statements many believers have used without realizing what spirit was shaping them:

1. “I’m just following the Spirit’s leading.”
2. “I go with whatever the Spirit puts on my heart.”
3. “I’m trusting the Holy Spirit to show me what’s true.”
4. “I’m where God wants to use me.”
5. “I don’t want to get stuck in head knowledge; I want revelation.”
6. “The Spirit will tell me if something is off.”
7. “I’m waiting for the Spirit to give me peace about it.”
8. “I feel checked in my spirit about that.”
9. “I’m being obedient to the Spirit’s prompting.”
10. “The Spirit will confirm it to me personally.”
11. “I don’t want to quench the Spirit by overanalyzing.”
12. “I’m following the unction.”
13. “The Spirit is nudging me in a different direction.”
14. “I’m sensing a shift in the Spirit.”
15. “I’m discerning something in my spirit about this.”
16. “I’m letting the Spirit guide my steps.”

How many of you have said similar things because you believed this was how God guides you? The Lord is unmasking the exemptions Satan hid in the Charismatic circles of influence—exemptions that went unchecked because they sounded spiritual.

As an exercise, take a moment to look over the list above. Circle any phrases that ring a bell—whether you’ve spoken them, heard them, or felt their influence. Maybe you’ve read them in a book, or heard them preached. This is the sad testimony repeated across different ministries.

These phrases have shaped the spiritual vocabulary of an entire generation. The language feels inspired, but it is self-serving. It was crafted to make believers think they’re being led by the Spirit when in reality they’re listening to a seducing spirit.

Feeling that restriction—feeling the pain of that severing—the “ouch” comes back in the form of an accusation against truth: “That’s legalism! Truth sours my freedom, so I brand truth as legalism. You’re not allowing me to follow my passions.”

⦁ That cry against truth to label truth as “legalism” is Satan’s twisted permission slip to do what you want—to follow your heart.

The apostles established this discernment from the very beginning to safeguard the church from Satan’s exploitation of man’s natural pattern—to be guided by his inner man. God put a difference between what we know naturally to sever the witness of man that Satan commandeers as God’s voice.

1 Corinthians 2:11-12
¹¹ For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

¹² Now we have received, NOT the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

In verse 11, the Apostle Paul is talking about what we know naturally. We naturally relate to the design of our own record. The spirit of man naturally connects to the natural rhythm God designed within. We know and relate to the things of man—and we recognize that limitation. We cannot know the things of God’s kingdom by our natural design. The two are not the same.

When fallen ministers hand you the devil’s manual for “getting in touch with your inner man”, they sanction that inward focus—what you know naturally inside yourself—by saying, “That’s where God’s Spirit dwells.”

Here’s how it sounds:

“We can experience a life of fulfillment by getting our minds focused inside ourselves, where God’s Spirit dwells.”

We underlined “inside ourselves” because that’s the teaching that hides Satan’s poison. In other words, what we know naturally through the inner man is given a divine label. The natural man’s impressions are accepted as God’s voice because, after all, “the Holy Spirit is inside you.”

It is taught in the false church body that God recreated your human spirit, and now your new spirit man communicates freely with the Holy Spirit that dwells inside you. This is the doctrinal switch. Ministers say, “The Holy Spirit is in you,” hoping you will swallow the deception—the belief that you got a brand‑new human spirit.

This allows ministers to rebrand your natural design as God’s new creation in Christ, and it opens the door for the inner unctions, impressions, and gut leadings of the natural man to be marketed as the leading of the Holy Spirit.

When you hear your born‑again experience put this way—that we received a brand‑new human spirit—it suddenly doesn’t add up.

• God is letting you see the misstep in a different way for the first time, and it makes you stop and take another look: “Say—what now? I got a brand-new human spirit? That’s what that Spirit-led teaching is all about? That’s what I was told?”

That line right there—“That’s what I was told?”—is the moment the disconnect surfaces. It’s the moment you realize: I was handed something to believe without knowing it.

Because the deception was never stated outright and was smuggled in through language to tether your faith to what you know naturally, many cannot articulate or put into words the counterfeit they’ve been handed and that’s half the battle.”

This section from Apostle Eric’s new book is essential to remove the greatest threat to your salvation: the lie that allows Satan to rebrand your natural man as the new man in Christ. That one line where Apostle Eric shapes the response of the believer to that realization sends a shock wave through the church:

“Say—what now? I got a brand-new human spirit? That’s what that Spirit-led teaching is all about? That’s what I was told?”

People are totally unaware and in the dark about the switch Satan made through his ministers. That’s why that one line hits so hard. It exposes what ministers worked so hard to keep covered. Their advice to “get in touch with your inner man” to sanction that inward focus is now stripped of the authority it never had.

And that’s why your response carries that recognition: “My natural man was rebranded as the new man in Christ. I never saw that switch before. That’s really twisted.”

People don’t see it right away because the twist was sold so impressively that they can’t see it until it now jumps out at them. And once God turns on the light, the poisonous contradiction you were handed is seen for what it is—an ugly, grace‑less gospel that the devil designed to replace Jesus’ covenant.