A Warning From Peter — Instructions From John
Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin Articles
The word “stealth” means, “Having or providing the ability to prevent detection by radar.” Thus, we have the stealth bomber — an aircraft that has the ability to evade detection by radar.
Similarly, religious error can slip in by “stealth,” secretly and undetected (Acts 20:29-31).
Peter warns us:
“But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly [with stealth] bring in destructive heresies….” (2 Peter 2:1).
Because there may be false teachers among us, we need to follow the inspired instructions of John:
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1; cf. Matthew 24:4-5).
The criteria for the above testing comes from the inspired words of the apostles themselves (1 John 4:6).
Thus, it is wise for each member of the church to constantly “test” all teachers and preachers of the Bible by the inspired Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16), making certain that what they are teaching is true according to the Scriptures (Acts 17:10-11).