False Teachers Abound
Perverting the truth is a major industry.
Jude 1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: 2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
3 Beloved, while I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I was constrained to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For there are certain men who crept in secretly, even those who were long ago written about for this condemnation: ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into indecency, and denying our only Master, God, and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Read the rest of this chapter in your own Bible.
********
Jude says he wanted to write about our common salvation, but now he feels like he has to warn his readers about those who have crept into the church, and who are trying to subvert it. This is a worthy warning for us today. Many churches have just lost their way. And it has always been this way. We have been made to be the light of the world, and the only thing the devil can really do is compromise us and hide our light. He does that by making us ashamed and afraid. He takes us off the path that leads to eternal life and tries to drag us on to the wide road that leads to destruction. And we are to resist that and keep calling people to the narrow road instead.
Today, we are a couple thousand years removed from the founding of the church. And we have been drifting for a very long time. Even those churches that claim that they believe the Bible and preach the Bible preach only part of the Bible. The rest of what we live by is our traditions. The mistakes we have been making over the centuries have become codified into our church covenants.
When I read this letter, I feel a very personal call. If others will not continue to point people to the scriptures then I will do it. I am not a person of any particular importance, but I do steadfastly cling to the Word of God. And that is all any of us can do. And that is because people are so unreliable. We equivocate and compromise and make deals with ourselves and the spirits that tempt us.
I got saved in the 1980s and during that time many people got involved in multi-level marketing. A lot of Christians got caught up in this. And I used to see pictures of the things that they were working toward on their refrigerators. There were pictures of big houses, expensive cars and boats, and people on luxury vacations. We were being sold dreams that we had not even had. Those things were a distraction no matter how many times you prayed before your meetings. We worked very hard at trying to get people into our downline because we would be making a small percentage of their sales. Are we working as hard at creating a spiritual down line? Were we making disciples who were seeking heavenly riches?
Over time people had their hearts hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. They began well, but eventually they ended up on the broad road. God had become an accessory instead of a destination. And even though those companies that were selling us multi-level marketing dreams have receded, we have new things that call us away from Christ. We have political causes that absolutely fill every social media platform and conversation. That is why I speak of Christ. I cannot let myself get entangled with these utopian dreams that only lead to oppression.