Hi People 👀,
I’m sure you’re shocked to receive this mail in your inbox 🥲. It’s been a lot….. So, as you all know, I started my podcast…yay 💃🏾! But because of that, I’ve found it hard to write, and honestly, I didn’t know what to write about since I was already speaking on things in the podcast.
Except, I missed writing. I just missed the art of using words in written format instead of verbal, so I decided to merge both worlds together. Since Substack has podcast hosting, why not use it 😏? Well, in all transparency, it wasn’t just my idea but my friend’s idea, but yayyyy… we are executing.
Today’s conversation is on False Teaching and the Early Church. We’ll be going through four points Paul talked about to show false teaching in the church.
Engaging in useless arguments
Have you ever met someone who just wants to argue for argument’s sake? They don’t want to talk because they want to hear your point or exchange ideas, they just want to hear themselves talk. Those are the kind of people who are most likely to give a false version of the gospel. Paul talks about them in 1 Timothy 1:1-4: people who are more interested in fables and tales than the simple truth of the gospel.
People who want to talk about Cain’s wife, the book of Enoch, who Mary Magdalene really was…..when they have no evidence or backing but some random guy on YouTube. All these arguments have no relation to our salvation and the deity of Christ. Any argument that does not lead us back to the cross is useless and will always lead to false doctrine and religion.
Wanting to be a teacher when you are a new convert or teaching without discipleship, studying, and humility
Everybody wants to be a teacher, which in all honesty is not a bad thing, we are all meant to teach all men the gospel and make disciples of all men. However, where you are in your faith journey matters. Creating disciples when you yourself have no idea what you’re talking about is just the blind leading the blind.
Even the great apostles all had years of learning before teaching. Paul, after his conversion, spent years studying the Word before he went on any of his missionary journeys. If you want to be a teacher and you don’t have someone discipling you, you don’t spend time deeply studying the Word, or you lack humility… you’re most likely going to find yourself teaching a false doctrine. 2 Timothy 2:15: “Study to show yourself approved.”
Having a bad moral compass and character
You cannot live in sin and teach the gospel. You cannot be a person known to have a poor temper, awful manners, a gossiping tongue, violent tendencies, lies, greed, vanity….. and expect that you will not fall into false teaching.
Your body is the temple of God, where the Holy Spirit resides. You possess living water that is meant to nourish everyone around you, especially the body of Christ. You can’t build a rotten temple and expect living water to flow, it cannot work.
Commanding rules that have nothing to do with Christ, just based on personal convictions or beliefs
Don’t enforce rules that are just your personal conviction. Paul talked about rules like being forbidden to marry, forbidden to eat certain foods, or circumcision. Personal convictions are not doctrine. You can have a personal conviction in your life, but you cannot add that as doctrine for the people of God. You’re called to make disciples of Christ, not disciples of yourself.
So, check on the person you’re listening to and ask yourself: are they showing any of these signs? And most importantly, are they preaching from the Bible or from their feelings and biases?
Currently Reading / Listening / Loving
📚 Starting a new book for October, it’s a study of Galatians by Timothy Keller. I love the way he teaches the gospel, so I’m intrigued to see how he breaks down Galatians.
As always, I hope this nudges you gently toward reflection and study.
With love,April 🌸
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