The bait and switch have been around for decades. It is a form of marketing in retail sales, that involves advertising a product at a low price, but then changing the grade of the product and raising the price, once the customer arrives at the store.
The truth is advertisers know you won’t buy what they want to sell you up-front, so they offer something more appealing, and then when you’re sold on that, they switch it out. Ingenious really.
Lately, I have been noticing the bait and switch quite a bit as it relates to the Christian community.
It typically begins with a person gaining popularity for professing to be a Christian and their work in ministry. For instance, they could be a Pastor, singer, author, or even be a celebrity. Or they could have a popular podcast or YouTube Channel.
Whatever the case, in the beginning, they appear to be all about Jesus, and sharing the truth of the gospel. Their gifting or anointing is so powerful that we begin to follow them and develop an allegiance to them because of how their ministry has blessed our lives. This is what I call the bait.
Interestingly, it appears that after they have garnered a huge following, their belief system suddenly begins to change. Either they begin to express doubts about their faith or they no longer believe in Jesus or agree with the Bible at all.
Sometimes they will even begin to introduce new ideas, or doctrines, in an attempt to merge a different concept of religion with the Gospel. This is what I see as the switch.
2 Peter 2:1-3 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; because of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
Bait is a lure, or a trap, like placing a fake worm on the end of a fishing hook. The intention of the fisherman is always to catch the fish, and take it out of its element so it will eventually die, albeit the fish doesn’t know that because if it did it would never take the bait!
But this is what we’re seeing in the church today, wolves in sheep’s clothing. The bait is their personality or their talent. They are down-to-earth, anointed, or gifted, they seem sincere and committed to the cause of Christ. They are excellent teachers, preachers, and singers, they make you laugh, cry, they make you feel good.
We pledge our allegiance to these people because of how they make us feel. Once we are hooked it doesn’t matter what they do or say, we feel a sense of loyalty because of what their ministry has done for us.
Regardless of how their doctrine has changed, or how questionable their lifestyle, we still defend them as “God’s anointed.” But at some point, we must ask ourselves are these really God’s anointed?
18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
Antichrist means against or in the place of Christ, and according to this passage, there are many of them.
Now in no way am I saying that everybody that questions their faith is the antichrist. But clearly, some people will leave the faith, and according to this passage, the reason they left is so that we could know they were never with us.
This is nothing new and we have been warned many times in the bible that some will dwell among us, pretending to be true to God but they are false (Matthew 7:15; Matthew 24:11, 24; 2 Peter 2:1)
The real danger in the bait and switch is if we are not careful we will find ourselves questioning our faith based on our loyalty to someone else other than God.
This is subtle deception, because if you hold someone in high regard and they begin to question their faith, say they no longer believe in Jesus, or start believing in false doctrines, you may be inclined to follow them.
This is the purpose of the bait and switch. To get you to switch sides and to change your position on what you believe and who you believe in. Here are some ways to guard yourself:
1. Read/Study your Bible
If you don’t know the truth and if you are not grounded in what you believe, you will not recognize the switch when it happens.
There are some foundational truths that we must know as believers such as Jesus is God (John 1:1-3), Jesus was the only begotten of the Father (John 3:16), Jesus was born of a virgin (Matthew 1:23), Jesus was sinless (2 Corinthians 5:21), Jesus is the only way of Salvation (John 14:6).
This is a good start, since Jesus is the only way to God, most false doctrines will error on who Jesus is.
Along with reading your bible, you must study the word! If you are following someone’s preaching or teaching, write down the scriptures, verify what they said is true, know the truth for yourself (2 Timothy 2:15).
2. Do a background check
When you apply for a job sometimes they require a background check. They want to know your history before they hire you.
Our salvation is precious. And before we give someone access to our faith, we should do a background check. We need not trust the words of just anybody because they have a TV program or are on the New York Times bestseller list, or because they say God spoke to them.
Before you follow someone’s ministry research what they say they believe, and then see who they are affiliated with, sometimes their affiliations will give you an idea of what they truly believe.
Examine their fruit, if they preach and teach one thing, but their lives are plagued with scandal, divorce, sexual accusations, they are possibly a false teacher (Matthew 7:15-20).
3. Be watchful
Understand that we have an adversary who is trying to destroy us. He will use anything and anyone to lead us away from God, we must not be ignorant to his tricks. (1 Peter 5:8)
At the moment we notice a switch in beliefs, we must be willing to disconnect from those who are propagating falsehoods.
Regardless of who they are or how their ministry has touched our lives (remember it is God who changed your life, but he uses people to reach us), our loyalty must always be to God and the truth of his word.
