1Timothy 1:18-20 This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, (19) holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, (20) among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.1John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
What should be our response when people we have learned from, whose teaching seems to have been sound…go bad? What are we to think? Just who is such a person in reality?
Many people have the mentality of ‘eat the meat and spit out the bones.” In some situations that may be wise. But in the case of a professing christian whose actions and teaching now show a pattern of falsehood and heresy do we continue to go to them for direction thinking that we can just ‘eat the meat and spit out bones’ of their works?
Remember what Scripture says about good fruit and bad fruit –
Matthew 7:18-20 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
Simply put – Evil cannot produce good.
If one sees a leader teaching heresy, it doesn’t matter what he has taught in the past – one needs to avoid that leader. If the leader has taught good in the past and it has benefitted people it was because of God’s grace, but to continue to follow that leader after you are made aware of their evil is dangerous and not scriptural. Remember, Satan himself is quite a good theologian and is very capable of teaching exactly what the Bible says…with a spin.
Some people may be thinking that sounds harsh. They think, “That person really helped me in the past. I may not agree with all he is saying now, but I can use discernment and just ‘eat the meat and spit out the bones.'”
Let’s consider how God responds to such leaders. Look again at the above verses –
1 Tim 1:20 – “…whom I have handed over to Satan…”
1 John 2:19 “…They went out from us, but they were not of us…When leaders that have a past history of ‘good’ teaching and ‘good’ works stand before God He’s not going to say, “Hey, you taught a lot of good stuff and helped a lot of people – I will keep that in mind” NO!
On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ Matthew 7:22-23
God won’t acknowledge and take into consider the ‘good’ that false teachers did. He will simple say “I never knew you…” Never!!
God won’t soften His stance against false teachers who have taught and done ‘good’ things in the past but now walk in falsehood and heresy. And neither should we.1Ti 1:18-20 This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, (19) holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, (20) among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.
A Powerful True Account of How False Teaching on Forgiveness is Dangerous
The following is a comment submitted to me at my other blog, unholycharade.com I am posting it here, and there, as a stand-alone post because of its importance. Many, many thanks to the courageous lady who wrote and shared her story with us. We want to honor her desire that as many people as possible hear what she has to say so that they too can be wise:
Continue reading “A Powerful True Account of How False Teaching on Forgiveness is Dangerous”
What Does a Waterless Cloud Look Like?
Jud 1:12-13 These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; (13) wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
Joh 4:14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
If we are to do battle with evil in the strength of the Lord, protected by His armor and advancing with His weaponry, then we must be wise in regard to the schemes and lying deceptions of our enemy. How successful is any general if he is ignorant of the enemy general he wars against? Patton, it is thought, read Rommel’s book, and we must carefully read the Book given us by the Lord which exposes the evil one we stand against.
Notice here in the opening of the little letter of Jude, that we are warned about “creeps” (as I like to call them) who secretly and deceptively creep into the church:
Jud 1:4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
“Unnoticed.” That means that they wear some kind of disguise – wolves in wool – that kind of thing. Some of them, as Jude mentions, are all the time talking about “grace.” Grace, grace, grace. But it is a perversion of the grace of Christ because their message is one of presuming upon the Lord’s grace in order to indulge in sensuality and evil. If you want to build a fake “church,” this is a pretty good message to preach.
