What should we conclude from all of this?
False teachers are those who contradict the teachings of the scriptures.
False teachers are seen as selfish and dangerous.
God takes false teaching very seriously. There are numerous biblical passages and they are strongly worded – often shockingly so.
Christians are to:
Identify them
Not associate with them
Oppose them
Continue faithfully teaching and modelling the truth.
Political correctness and post-modernism declare that we should never criticise anyone else. There are huge pressures not to speak up for truth and those who do will often be condemned. Nevertheless, God calls His people to not be conformed to the pattern of this world (Roman 12:2) but to hold to the truth and to contend for it (Jude 3).
Ultimately, it is the truth that will set people free. Many before us have suffered for standing up for truth in the face of major opposition. We now look at them with respect that we do not have for those who simply saved their own skins by floating with the prevailing tide.
Matthew 10:32-39
32 ‘Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.
34 ‘Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn
‘“a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law –
36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.”
37 ‘Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.