It is interesting to me how much the Bible talks about false teachers.  It is a theme that pops up in many of the letters in the New Testament and is also addressed by Jesus in the Gospels.  Peter devotes much time to it in II Peter.  Let’s take a look at it together today. 

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

The real question is not whether or not you will come across false teachings but rather how do you spot it?  The best way is with the Bible, itself.  It serves as a filter through which we evaluate every teaching we come across.  Anything that you hear that goes against scripture is false teaching.  This idea was what led Martin Luther to writing his 95 theses.  He saw that some in the church were teaching things that contradicted Scripture and he wanted to address that.  Our society today has nearly limitless access to information which can be both good and bad.  I got into a conversation with a friend the other day who began sharing something they had learned about God.  I stopped them and said that the teaching they had heard went against the teachings of the Bible.  They responded with shock saying they had heard the same teaching from several preachers and all over social media.  The danger with false teaching is that is often so very close to the truth.  The next time you hear something new try and search it out in the Bible you just may be surprised what you find.

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave