"be on your guard!" (Acts 20:29-32)
Randy ®
(29) I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among
you and will not spare the flock.
(30) Even from your own number men will arise and distort the
truth in order to draw away disciples after them.
(31) So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never
stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.
Paul warned believers night and day to be on guard against wolves
who would come in among you, and not spare the flock. We see
examples of how he did this, in the book of Galatians, where he
warned them that if anyone comes to them preaching any other
gospel than the one of justification through faith in Christ, let
him be eternally condemned (Gal. 1:8-9)!
God saves men from eternal damnation through faith in His word
(Romans 1:17; 4:1ff.; 10:17; Eph. 2:8-9; Gen. 15, etc.). We know
His word, the gospel, is that Christ died for our sins and that
God raised Him from the dead (1 Cor. 15:3-4). We know that
whoever calls upon Jesus as Lord (Jehovah God) through faith in
this gospel, shall be saved (Joel 2:32; Rom. 10:13; Eph. 2:8-9),
and that those who do not believe Jesus is eternal Yahweh God,
will die in their sins (John 8:24, 58ff.).
To attack either the word of God, or the deity of Christ, then,
is to steer men away from the truth that will save them, and
guide them down a path that will result in their eternal
damnation. Leading men down such a path is not an act of
"freedom", "love", or "compassion", but of Satanic lies, hatred,
delusion, and everlasting doom.
For this reason, I follow the example of warning you night and
day, that people who devote themselves to attacking the deity of
Christ and the very word of God by which He gives men saving
faith, are wolves who guide men into eternal ruin! Reject them,
and do not heed their Satanically energized lies, as they attack
God's word and the deity of Christ!
2 John 1:9-11 NASB
(9) Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching
of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching,
he has both the Father and the Son.
(10) If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do
not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting;
(11) for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his
evil deeds.
2Jn 1:10
John instructs the believers not to show hospitality to false
teachers. They were to do nothing that would encourage the
heretics in their propagation of falsehoods. In addition, if
believers were to invite them in, such action would show that
they were approving of what the false teachers said and did.
...John adds that a person who supports a false teacher in any
way shares in the teacher's evil work.
False teaching is serious business, and we dare not overlook it.
It is so serious that John wrote this letter to warn against it.
Because our world has so many false teachings, we might be
tempted to take many of them lightly. Instead, we should realize
the dangers they pose and actively refuse to give heresies any
foothold.
(Life Application Study Bible)
--
Have you heard Christ died for our sins, and God raised Him
from the dead? Did you know God saves you from hell and
gives you eternal life through faith in this finished work alone,
not your merits (Jn. 3:16; 1 Cor. 15:1-3; Eph. 2:8-10; 2 Thess.
1:8-9)? This is so man cannot boast, and God alone gets the
glory (Eph. 2:8-9).
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