The Doorpost: Woke or awake? Follow God's Word

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master Who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

2 Peter 2:1

From the early days of the Church, and continuing to the present, there have been false teachers among us as the Apostle Peter warned us. In the verses following his warning, he goes on to point out that false teachers are not accidentally wrong but deliberately deceptive (see 2 Peter 2).

The Apostle Paul gives a similar warning in 1 Timothy 4:1-2 and the following verses, describing some who “will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared.”

He goes on to tell Timothy, “If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and the good doctrine that you have followed ” (1 Timothy 4:6).

Our defense against false teachers and the insincerity of those with a seared conscience is recognizing intentionally evil motives and tenaciously putting our trust in the truth of the Word of God, regardless of what those outside the Church, and even some within the Church, may say.