Sun 16 Aug

Most of the writers of the Bible had at some time during their ministry had to face off against false teachers. When Paul had his final meeting with the elders from the Ephesus congregation, he warned them that savage wolves (code for false teachers) would come. Surprisingly, he said some of them would come from within the congregation itself. In other places they are described as godless or as dogs.

Why did Paul and others take the challenge of dealing with false teachers so seriously? A simple illustration will suffice. Suppose you wanted to get to Werribee train station from Flinders Street Station. You go to Platform 9, get on the train, only to discover that the train will terminate at Newport. Now how would you feel once you got to Newport that you have been on the wrong train and the destination is not the one you are after. Now your wrong destination is easily fixed by waiting for the next Werribee bound train. You might be annoyed for a few minutes that the wrong train information was displayed for Platform 9.

Now displaying false and misleading train information is one thing. How would you react if someone gave you misleading and false information on being right with God. They told you to live a good life and that will be sufficient. Nothing was said about accepting what Christ has done on the cross for you in dying for your sins. Instead, you believe the false information and you end up in hell. How would you feel? How will you respond to the one who gave you the false information?