“ Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.  If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.” 2 John 1:9-11.

There are many false teachers who do not understand who Jesus is and what He has done.  In their misconception they have created another doctrine, a man made doctrine, that causes the Believer to place their faith on their works.  For instance, if we stumble and sin, as Believers we hate our sin as much as we hate other’s sin and we come up with this method to overcome sin.  We fast, we read our Bible or we may even pray more in order not to fail again. First of all, let me say this, EVERY Christian should be doing all of those things.  They are all part of our Christian walk.  However, if we are doing them to overcome sin, they are works.  There is absolutely nothing we can do to overcome sin except look to the Cross of Jesus and know that you know that you know that Jesus broke the power of that sin and humble ourselves before Him and submit our will to His will.  It is because of our great Salvation that we are able to submit our will to God’s will.  Before we accept Jesus into our lives, we are spiritually dead and have no means to “live unto God”. “For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.”  Romans 6:10.  Now that we are able to submit or yield to the power of God by our faith in Jesus and His work on the Cross (1 Cor. 1:18), that is how sin is overcome…not by our self will or efforts.

Some have stated that faith without works is dead. “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” James 2:17-18.  Proper faith will always produce good works, fruitful works.  The problem is, religion tries to keep the Believer so busy in unfruitful works (distracted) in the social gospel while helping them overcome sin in the psychological gospel that Jesus becomes the Man who died on the Cross 2000+ years ago or is soon coming.  This results in the Believer being active and the Holy Spirit inactive in their life because their faith is in their works and not His (Jesus’) works (Romans 8:2).  If we yield our will to God and submit ourselves to Him, not religion, not false teacher or preachers but to God, HE will place His will in our hearts.  We will want what He wants.  The Lord will mold us into His will and His purpose for our lives and then our works are truly “good works”; they are fruitful.  These good works are not found in a class or a questionnaire but in the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.  Flesh will birth flesh.

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.” 1 4:1-3. 

It seems as though many Christians know this scripture but for some reason they don’t believe it.  Maybe they are too proud to admit they have been following such doctrines.  I fell into them.  They are seducing spirits, not red flag spirits.  However, the Holy Spirit began to prick my heart and I began searching the scriptures, comparing them to what I was being taught and realized my faith and my focus was being pulled away from what Jesus has done and placed on things of the flesh and what I could do.  I am thankful to God for His faithfulness.

If you know a false teacher is false but continue sitting under their teachings you are partaking in their evil deeds.  I have often heard “no one has it all right”.  I submit this to you, the Word of God has it all right and when the full counsel of His Word is rightly divided, the Holy Spirit will lead us into all Truths.  We search the Word out for ourselves and by not doing so and condoning the false teachings we are leading another generation into apostasy as well and their blood will be on the hands of those who supported those ministries.

God speed to those who are determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  These are perilous times.  Discern the doctrine you are sitting under and the works you are doing.  Do they glorify the Lord and lift up the name of Jesus or do they glorify the church and lift it’s name up?  The works you are doing, did God place them on your heart or did the church?  Yes, we are to help others – absolutely!  If God puts it on your heart to help someone, we should certainly do so.  I have been on the receiving end of such blessings.  However, just realize it is only because I was “living unto God” that I knew that blessing was from God.  Otherwise, the person or the entity would have been glorified.  I was thankful to the person for obeying God but thankful to God for the blessing.

If the doctrine of faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified has been added to or redirected, it is a false doctrine which can lead to the loss of one’s soul.  If there is poison in the pot, turn away from the pot and seek the Living Water – Jesus Christ.  – Donna Clark Warren