For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
Jude 4
As I thought about the verse above from Jude, my attention was drawn to the way the false teachers slipped into the first century church. Jude says they crept in unnoticed or secretly slipped in among the believers. They didn’t appear to be outsiders from some sort of false religion.
“Beware of supposing that a teacher of religion is to be trusted, because although he holds some unsound views, he yet ‘teaches a great deal of truth.’ Such a teacher is precisely the man to do you harm: poison is always most dangerous when it is given in small doses and mixed with wholesome food.
– J.C. Ryle
Patrina loves murder mysteries and so if we’re home on Friday or Saturday evening, Dateline or 48 hours is likely to be playing. Several of the latest episodes have featured spouses who secretly poisoned their husband or wife. The result is a slow painful death and the same is true with the impact of a false teacher.
As J.C. Ryle said in the quote above, they may teach a “great deal of truth.” They may say most of the right things. They may teach many of the right things. They may lead lives that appear to be a pretty good life, but there are people in our churches and bookstores, airwaves and podcasts that are poisoning our hearts and minds.
It is all to easy to become complacent in light of small doses of poison. If it is mixed in with something wholesome, what’s the harm? Let’s think about Jude’s specific concerns for his dear friends tomorrow.
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