HERESIES AND FALSE PROPHETS WILL BE IN THE CHURCHES
For there must also be heresies be among you, that those which are Approved may be made Manifest among you. I Corinthians 11:19
But there were false prophets among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the L-rd that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. II Peter 2:1-3
The Apostles Peter and Paul both prophesied that there would be heresies and false teachers coming to the Church. Those that would lead others astray through misinterpretations of Scripture causing strifes and divisions.
In fulfillment of these Prophecies, the early Church in the first 5 Centuries encountered about every possible attack from false teachers and correctly identified about every heresy that still exists today.
In the history of the Church we can find such false teachers and also true teachers whose writings have remained for our edification. The L-rd in Faithfulness raised up true teachers to defend the Faith against heresies.
HOW IT WORKED BEFORE THERE WAS A "POPE"
In the first 5 Centuries A.D. there was no single man or "pope" who decided what was true and what was false. There instead was a consensus among all the Assemblies. The Assemblies would communicate with one another; the whole Church was in agreement on all major issues related to Bible Doctrine.
Here is how it worked: each Assembly based in a major city had a Bishop as its Minister. Some of the main cities were Constantinople, Carthage, Meleve, Jerusalem, Rome, Ephesus, and many others. If any false teachings were discovered that contradicted Scripture, letters would be written to the other Churches exposing it, and Councils or Synods might be called to decide as a group whether or not such teachings in question were following the true teachings or not. If persons were not preaching the truth and did not repent of their false teachings, they were first censured, and then as a last resort excommunicated to protect the flock.
CLOSER TO THE ORIGINAL MEANINGS
In the first 5 Centuries of the Church, Greek was still in common use throughout much of the civilized world. Educated people knew the meaning of the New Testament very well because they spoke and wrote Greek. They were closer to the original meanings of the Greek words and sentence structures. Latin was also in use, but Bishops were generally chosen who had a first-hand knowledge and competency in Greek. They could both read and write it. The Old Testament that was used was the Greek Septuagint (LXX). Since the verses in the Septuagint are quoted word-for-word in the Greek New Testament, the LXX was a companion book for the determination of Scripture.
There was no Hebrew text in general use in the early Church. The Hebrew Masoretic Text (MT), found in the KJV, is not just "one text" as many have been led to believe, but a "family" of texts of which no two agree 100%)[1] was not completely assembled by the Jewish rabbis (known as the Masoretes) until the Middle Ages, almost 500 years later.
STRATEGIES OF FALSE TEACHERS
STRATEGY: CONFUSE THE NEW BELIEVER
TWO ELEMENTARY TACTICS:
The first simple tactic used by false teachers to confuse New Believers is tell them:
"We only go by the Bible, not what man has written."
This seems "reasonable" at first, but in actuality throws out the entire history of His Church, and places their "interpretation" over everything that has gone before historically for our edification.
The second simple tactic commonly used is:
"We don't have any doctrine, we just go by the Bible."
By this clever subterfuge, these ones insert their own "interpretation" once more, but never admit it is any sort of "doctrine". Most people can see through this cunning subtlety right away. These people are usually hiding something. They do have doctrines they just don't want to tell you what they are, or what their true origins are, or they are just following some mentor, and their mentor either does not know or is hiding its true origins from them!
STRATEGY: HIDING THEIR TRUE BELIEFS
False teachers do not want to be exposed. Their teachings will go against what the early Church in Councils and Synods did Rule as error or heresy. They therefore tell others that anyone that "judges them" is "going against Scripture". So they say:
"Don't Judge."
This appears to be a good thing on its face, because of Matthew Chapter 7, but that passage is directed toward those with a "mote" in their eye. The passage speaks against subjective judging because Yeshua (Jesus) Himself Commanded that we were to:
...Judge not after outward appearance, but Judge Righteous Judgment. John 7:24
We are to use Scripture to Judge, and also, as the early Church had done with regard to false teachings, research what they said and consider it over against what these ones that say "don't judge" might be teaching. Diligently studying the Rulings of the Councils and Synods therefore becomes invaluable in determining true teaching from false. Most of the false teachings which are around today have already been seen in the early Church and Ruled heresy.
MORE FOLLOWING SOON!
PEOPLE OF G-D MINISTRIES
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FOOTNOTES
[1
The entire early Church grew up with and studied these books, and used the Apocrypha for the purposes stated above.
In the 16th-Century, the Roman Catholic Church began giving too much weight to these extra books. Martin Luther, to make the issue clear, excluded these "extra books" from the Canon of Scripture. The result is what we have today, the 66 Books of the Bible as G-ds' Word. The Roman Catholic Church still retains them in its Canon. The Protestants, following Luther, do not.