“Beware of Wolves” Conclusion
Conclusion
It is essential that
we beware of NEW teachings. The reason
that they are new teachings is because they are not fully supported by
Scripture. If they are supported by the
Bible, they are not new! Some false
teachings are packaged very well. They
have exotic wrapping paper and a beautiful bow but people are unaware of the spring
loaded pie that will be propelled into their face when they remove the lid.
Another cause of
people being misled by false teachers is grazing in foreign pastures. While there is nothing wrong with obtaining
sound information from those who possess it, we need to be very discriminative regarding
those we receive that information from. Jesus
gave a warning in Matthew 7:15 to beware of false prophets. The way He said we would be able to identify
them is by their fruit; their lives. The
Bible tells us that false teachers will be among us and unfortunately, sometimes
we miss the false teachers who are AMONG us.
We miss the ones who initiate their own private bible classes for the
members of the church without the pastor’s consent. There have also been people of other
religions who have infiltrated the church in order to present a different
message to unsuspecting, gullible members.
Beware of those who
operate ministries within a ministry WITHOUT the pastor’s blessing. Vance Havner once stated that, “Satan is not
fighting churches; he is joining them. He
does more harm by sowing tares than by pulling up wheat. He accomplishes more by imitation than by outright
opposition.” The greatest threat of
deception comes from those we align ourselves with.
In order to protect
ourselves and our families from the devastating effects of false teachers, it
is important to KNOW the Word of God.
This only comes from dedication to studying the Bible. We have to be diligent to study so that we
will know whether a person is handling the word of truth accurately or
not. We also need to be in a position to
hear from the Holy Spirit when He is warning us against individuals.
Another defense
against the deception of a false teacher is belonging to a local church. That is a church that you physically attend. At a local church, you have the ability to
observe the lives of the pastor as well as others who serve in a speaking
capacity. It can be difficult to observe
the lives of people whom you have never met or even had a conversation with.
Sound teaching has the
potential to bring offense because many of God’s solutions require responsible
behavior on our part. There were times
when Jesus healed someone or performed a miracle for someone and He would
follow the miracle with the instructions to “Go and sin no more.” Some false teachers will lead you to believe
that the answer to money problems is dancing wildly around the church or
performing some other act or service instead of paying off your debt and
refraining from creating new debt. Psalm
37:21 says “The wicked borrows and does not repay, but the righteous shows mercy
and gives. We are encouraged to always
use sound judgment in our decision making process and we are instructed to
always be watchful and evaluate those who are speaking into our lives.
Titus 1:10-16
10 For there are many rebellious people, empty talkers and
deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11 who must be silenced
because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they
should not teach for the sake of dishonest gain. 12 One of them, a prophet
of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy
gluttons.” 13 This
testimony is true. For this reason reprimand them severely so that
they may be sound in the faith, 14 not paying attention to Jewish myths
and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. 15 To the pure, all things
are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure,
but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. 16 They profess to know
God, but by their deeds they deny Him,
being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good
deed.
