Heresies

Heresies have existed since the beginning of the world. Satan has found it to be a very successful way to deceive people out of salvation.

The first heresy we find in the Garden of Eden. The Serpent said, “Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Gen. 3:4,5. Believing this heresy cost our first parents their lives and the lives of their children even up to our day and also the life of the Son of God.

When Noah was preaching of the coming flood and righteousness, the whole world turned against him and believed heresies of the false religious leaders.

False prophets and religious teachers have deceived millions out of the truth throughout the six thousand years that the world has existed. Two thousand years ago the Jewish people believed heresies that Satan had invented and as a result they rejected Jesus as their Messiah. Even the disciples of Jesus had difficulty in giving up these false beliefs and to accept the truth that Jesus was teaching.

Yet never have the false teachings, the heresies been so abundant as in the last days. In Matthew Chapter 24 Jesus foretold the signs of the last days. He mentioned only once the earthquakes, wars, famines and pestilences but the false prophets He mentioned three times in verses 5,11 and 24. He said that they “shall deceived many”.

A person who is deceived by these heresies does not know it. He thinks that he is right and others wrong. These prevailing heresies are so deceptive that, they often blind a person so much that the strongest evidence for the truth cannot open his eyes anymore. When someone who has once believed the truth starts doubting it, there is very little we can do to save him.

“A man that is heretic after the first and second admonition reject.” Titus 3:10. This was Apostle Paul’s counsel to Titus. Paul had met heretics all along and he had learned that it was a waste of time and effort to continue to argue and debate with them.

Apostle Paul relates the 17 works of the flesh in Gal. 5:19-21. One of them is heresies. He recognized the great danger of them. He states that, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be cursed.” Gal. 1:8.

Sister White made it clear that we have the present truth and nothing must be changed from it. New light will be given but it will only confirm the present truth and will not overthrow it. “The proclamation of the first, second, and third angel’s messages has been located by the word of Inspiration. Not a peg or pin is to be removed. No human authority has any more right to change the location of these messages than to substitute the New Testament for the Old.” Counsels to Writers and Editors, p. 26.

“The great deceiver has many agents ready to present any and every kind of error to ensnare souls – heresies prepared to suit the varied tastes and capacities of those whom he would win. It is his plan to bring into the church insincere, unregenerate elements that will encourage doubt and unbelief, and hinder all who desire to see the work of God to advance, and to advance with it. Many who have no real faith in God or His Word, assent to some principles of truth and pass as Christians; and thus they are enabled to introduce their errors as scriptural doctrines.” GC, p. 520.

“Though many of us are sleeping at our post, Satan does not sleep; and he will put forth untiring efforts to bring in heresies that will turn us from a wholehearted worship of God. Not as a fiend, not as a being that rebels, but as an angel of light he will come, and those who are not watchful and grounded in the truth for this time will be overcome by his wiles.” R.H., July 22, 1909.

“He (Satan) has other heresies-intellectual poisons – which he has concocted for another class of minds in this age of skepticism and proud reasoning. These sophistries have a bewitching power over minds, and thousands are deceived by them” S.T., March 27, 1884.

One of the greatest heresies that will destroy our salvation is that sin cannot be overcome, and that the perfection of the character is not possible. Some believe that the conditions of Romans chapter 7 will remain until Jesus comes. When brothers Jones and Waggoner preached in 1888 that perfection is possible and also is a condition for eternal life, those who rejected this message sinned against the Holy Spirit. (Test, to Min, p. 80.)

Another heresy is that the Revelation chapter 18 angel is still in the future. This heresy removes the foundation of the SDA Reform Movement. How could the church that preaches the message of the Revelation 18th angel not be the same? The message that Jones and Waggoner preached at the 1888 conference was the light of the Revelation 18th angel according to Sister White and when we are proclaiming this very message then we must be this angel and in the latter rain our work will swell to a greater and mightier work.

Another heresy that the Shepherd’s Rod movement believes is that the Rock that hit Nebuchadnezzar’s image is the church, but Sister White wrote clearly that Jesus is this Rock. “But when Christ shall visit the wicked, His judgments will not fall only upon the Jews but upon all who have refused the heavenly benefits of the grace of God. The stone that was passive, bearing humbly all the abuse heaped upon it, will then lift itself in life and power above those who despised and rejected it. They will see in this their Rock of offense, an avenging mountain falling upon and crushing them.” Spirit of Prophecy #3, p. 41.

Some have a wrong understanding about the 144,000 and the great multitude, others fail to see when an apostate church becomes Babylon. Christ’s righteousness message is misunderstood by many. Law and grace are often confused.

What would help us to discern these heresies? How can we escape Satan’s deceptions? One way to protect us from these heresies is Bible study, that we may be rooted and grounded in the truth.

“There must be painstaking effort to fasten in the minds of all, the solid arguments of the truth; for everyone will be tested, and those who are rooted and grounded in the work of God will be unmoved by the heresies that will arise on all sides; but if any neglect to obtain the necessary preparation, they will be swept away by errors that have the appearance of truth.” Gospel Workers, 1893 Edition, p. 228.

“Many false doctrines will be presented to us as the teaching of the Bible; but as we compare them with the law and the testimony we shall find that they are dangerous heresies. Our only safety is in becoming personally acquainted with the reasons of our faith.” S.T., April 22, 1889.

Another help we have to save us from these heresies is the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
“Moral darkness, like a funeral pall, covers the earth. All manner of false doctrines, heresies and Satanic deceptions are misleading the minds of men. Without the Spirit and power of God, it will be in vain that we labour to present the truth. We must have the Holy Spirit to sustain us in the conflict, ‘for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.'” Home Missionary, Nov. 1,1893.

These heresies have also a purpose. There is a reason why God permits them to come into our church. These heresies will bring a shaking among us, which is needful.

“God will arouse His people; if other means fail, heresies will come in among them, which will sift them, separating the chaff from the wheat.” Test. Vol. 5, p. 707.

Apostle Paul gives us a warning that all who do not love the truth will believe a lie. “Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” 2. Thess. 2:10-11.

May the Lord grant us the eye salve to anoint our eyes that we may detect the heresies that Satan is trying to bring among us.
AMEN