Let No Man Begile You

Let no man begile you

Paul writing letters to the Church at Colossians, was concerned about false teachings being brought into the church... you can read about it here:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+2&version=KJV

Even today, we need to be aware of false teaching taking root within our churches. Many misleading books are in Christian bookstores! And those books are often brought into our church to study. Many years ago, an online friend of mine, wanted me to join in a study, her church was doing. It involved an online book. I went immediately and read a couple of chapters, and then declined the invitation. GOD quickened my spirit to gaurd my heart against these false teachings. She did not take my declining the invitation. It lead to contention between us, and she could not understand, why. I had explained that the book contained false teachings. But she continued to insist that her church overlooked those things, and only gleaned truth found in the pages. It severed our friendship for awhile. I continued to pray for my friend. I missed our fellowship. GOD knew that our friendship had been forged upon HIS WORD. While we both stewed in our grief over a lost friendship, GOD was working on both our behalfs. I refused to apologise for doing what was right before GOD. She refused to admit, that the book was tainted. It went on and on. But one day, GOD quickened both our hearts. We found forgiveness, and a lasting friendship. Although, our friendship was never quite the same. Sometimes, GOD will quicken your spirit to not accept a teaching. I knew, in my heart, that the book was full or erroneous teachings. What seemed to be okay for her, was not okay for me. We agreed to disagree in the end.

I am a firm believer in going straight to the source. While books are ok, they are not the final authority, the source is. In this case, the Bible was my source. The online book was filled with thoughts of someone I did not know, and did not trust. It only took reading through a few pages of a couple of chapters, to know this. I had highlighted false teachings on what I had read, and went directly to scripture, to verify the false teachings were indeed there. Paul, warned the Colossians and rightly so.

Which brings me to another point. Our elders, or Deacons, should be looking hard at what is being brought into our church. When there is a question of something being said, or read from a book, that does not align with the WORD of GOD, it should be addressed and removed from our midst. All too often, we just follow along, and no one says a word about it. We went through this in 2 different churches. A false teaching was taking root, and almost split the church. Fortunately, the Deacons and elders spoke up, and addressed the issues. May we learn discernment, when it comes to getting the WORD and not some watered down or twisted versions.