Watchout For WOLVES: Keys To Discerning Authentic Ministries & Evaluating Doctrinal Trends

Chapter 2 The Fact of False Ministries

If you only read the Bible casually, you do not realize how often it warns us about false teachings and false teachers or ministries. When we do read about them we often presume that what is being said is not particularly relevant to us, because we would never be duped by such things. The reality is that every believer needs to be on guard. We live in day when a certain amount of skepticism can serve us well. I am sure, like me, that you receive email, text messages or some other form of communication from time to time that seems too good to be true. Wh en I get an email that tells me “I am a winner” in a contest that I did not enter, I have my doubts. Or when I get a negative message that indicates that my accounts will be shut down if I do not respond immediately to their warning and call 1-800-YOU-DUPE, I am a little suspicious. I have had many phone calls about my warranty expiring on my 25-year-old car. Before I had any tech savvy, I would be tempted to respond to some of these (I said “ tempted ” ). As time has gone on and I have educated myself regarding scams, click bait and other hustles, I have learned how to red flag, delete and report them without responding. I would not have lasted very long in the current tech world, if I had just blindly trusted everything that I received or read from these messages. The same is true when it comes to our

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