[Biblemat] A) LOOK OUT FOR WOLVES

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  A very good Tuesday
morning to each and everyone.  May God bless you and yours.
Here is an article from my recent files:

LOOK OUT FOR WOLVES

     Christians live in a dangerous world.  It is a world full of
evil influences and every disciple of Christ must guard against possible 
inroads into his thinking by Satan's onslaug-
ht.  However, such challenges may not be the greatest dang-
er which the saint faces.

     The truth of God sets men free, but false doctrine will cause men to be 
lost (Jno. 8:32).  The apostle Peter wrote,
"But there were also false prophets among the people, even
as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly
bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who 
bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.  And
many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the
way of truth will be blasphemed" (2 Pet. 2:1,2).  Not only do
false teachers bring "swift destruction" upon themselves, but
they also will contribute to the destruction of others, i.e., those who 
accept their "destructive heresies."

     It is often not too difficult to recognize the false teacher.
He is suspect first because of the context of his teaching.  He
(or she!) is associated with a religious denomination and such denominations 
are founded upon false doctrine.  Second, his teaching may obviously 
contradict the plain teaching of the New Testament.

     The more dangerous false teacher is the one who looks
like the sheep!  Using the figure of the flock to describe God's people, 
Jesus characterized the false prophets (or 
teachers) as "ravenous wolves" who appear in "sheep's cloth-
ing" (Matt. 7:15).  The thought is that the false teacher may 
appear to be a faithful Christian upon cersory examination.

     That's what makes him so dangerous.  Not just that he
teachies doctrine which will condemn, but that he is hard to
recognize.  Some sheep will be "devoured" by his false doct-
rine because they trusted him.  He doesn't wear a sign pro-
claiming himself to be a predator.  He secretly brings in des-
tructive heresies, sidling up to sheep after sheep to plant his
unscriptural views (2 Pet. 2:1).  He often doesn't proclaim his
view from the pulpit.  Instead he works behind the scenes, 
questioning sound teaching, always ready to offer a "better
view" to those who are made receptive to his deceptive words
by flattery (2 Pet. 2:3, 13,14, Rom. 16:18; Jd. 16).  He doesn't
devour a sheep quickly.  He distracts a sheep from the Shep-
herd's voice until that Christian is so enamored with the false
doctrine that he doesn't recognize the truth anymore.  Even-
tually that same disciple is advocating the false doctrine, hav-
ing "discovered" how wrong the doctrine he once accepted
is.  He has been devoured by the wolf who, by now, is concen-
trating on his next victim.

     It is not the purpose of this article to cause brethren to 
view each other with suspicion and distrust.  We do need, however, to be able 
to recognize those false teachers who are dressed in sheep's clothing.  Jesus 
taught that we can
recognize them by their fruits (Matt. 7:15).  The ultimate test
for false teachers is the doctrine taught -- do the Scriptures
support it?    ------- Allen Dvorak via Gospel Power, Vol. 14, No. 13, April 
1, 2007.   </HTML>
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