“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;” 2 Timothy 4:1-2
In Paul’s first letter to Timothy he was instructing his younger apprentice and fellow preacher in things like, church leadership and dismissing false doctrines, among other things. Throughout the history of Christianity and Judaism there has always been a fight against false doctrine. People have tried to add to or subtract from the Gospel, often with tragic results, including lies, hypocrisy and their conscience being unable to discern right from wrong. Today I’m just going to rattle off a few of the false doctrines that are infesting the Christian faith today. These doctrines are not Biblical and are used by people to control and manipulate others, and by Satan and his minions to confound and distract Christians.
False doctrines:
The false doctrine that there are many paths that you can follow and they all lead to Heaven.
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Our Father is in Heaven and we can’t get to Him in His Heaven except through His Son, Jesus. You have to ignore or reject scripture to believe this false doctrine of multiple paths to Heaven.
The doctrine that our souls sleep after we die is false.
Luke 16:22-24 says, “And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” Lazarus was not sleeping in the grave, he was with Abraham in Heaven and the rich man was alive and in torment in hell. Their souls were awake. Nobody was sleeping.
The doctrine that touts: since we are saved, redeemed and justified by God’s grace, we don’t necessarily need to be sanctified (a separated people living for Christ in accordance with scripture).
If we consider ourselves saved by God’s grace, shouldn’t we follow the examples within scripture? If we have truly been purchased back from an eternal hell by the sacrifice of God’s Son Jesus, shouldn’t we try to follow in His footsteps and live a righteous and sanctified life? If we are truly justified by Jesus accepting all our sins upon Himself, shouldn’t we live as Christ-like as humanly possible out of reverence and gratitude for His precious and selfless sacrifice? The answer to all these questions is yes! We must be Christians all the time, not just when it suits us.
The doctrine that claims: the Bible is more of a guideline and is metaphorical, not literal.
What a non-biblical load of crap! Sorry folks, but that is simply a way of justifying lifestyles and worldviews that are opposed to the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God – justification by minimalizing the truth and authority of scripture. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” We cannot minimalize the need for or the adherence to scripture by declaring it a guideline. We cannot take the truth of scripture and declare it metaphor – a broader meaning that is not just, “black and white” but encompasses, “gray areas”. God’s grace is unconditional, but after you receive His grace, you should be filled with the Holy Spirit and be compelled by love, gratitude and accountability to obey scripture as the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God.
Islam is a religion of peace and they serve the same god as Christians.
No, Islam is a dictatorial religion that requires you to convert, be subjugated to Islamic rule or die. They believe in doing whatever it takes to convert, or subjugate you to further their religion, even if it takes lying, baring false witness, rape, beating, terrorizing, and killing. That’s not very peaceful sounding to me. The God of Christianity rejects all of these methods of converting people to Christianity, so we do not serve the same god.
Know the truth:
I could go on all day, but the main message is to avoid all false doctrine. The only way to do that is to read the Bible, study it, know it, because the only way to protect yourself from false doctrine is to know the true doctrine within the pages of our Holy Bible. I pray that each of you have a blessed day and study, study, study. Amen!
