If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. – 1 Timothy 6:3
Earlier this year, there were reports that the Church of England was considering removing masculine pronouns for God and making Him gender-neutral. Those claims proved not to be true. More recently, however, the Archbishop of York suggested that “Our Father” be removed from the Lord’s Prayer because too many people have had poor or even abusive relationships with their earthly fathers or been abandoned by them, and calling God “Father” would further traumatize them. This is but one example of a new trend toward deconstructing the Christian faith in order to align it with a more current culture, to make a new “Christianity” more palatable to no belief system at all.
Jesus warned about false teachers (Matthew 7:15-20). So did the apostle Paul (Romans 16:17-18, 1 Timothy 6:3-5). Peter spends a good portion of his second epistle warning of false teachers (2 Peter 2). False teachers prey on the spiritually immature as they distort or abandon portions of scripture. They are often conceited, ambitious, and money-hungry (2 Corinthians 2:17). In today’s culture, they tolerate inappropriate sexuality as well as immorality. They hold to a form of outward religiosity, but they have denied the very power of the cross. Paul says to avoid them (2 Timothy 3:5).
If you are involved in a church or congregation that has “deconstructed“ the Gospel of Jesus Christ, run! Seek those who faithfully teach the truth of God’s Word. From a distance, you can pray that God would work on the spirits of false teachers to bring them to the truth. Pray for the pastors and teachers who hold to the true Gospel, for they are in a spiritual battle.
Today’s Verse: 1 Timothy 6:3
If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness,
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Recommended for further reading: 2 Peter 2:1-10
2 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
