Reflections and Snippets

Discernment of False Doctrine



Extract of letter from Dean VanDruff to Hanokh Ben Qeshet.
Greetings in Messiah. That we find ourselves in his sanctifying grip is cause for great joy.

I know the enticements of false doctrine. In the way of "research" and "study" I applied myself to study the cults for several years after college. But I found out something that I had not expected--some of the ideas were enticing, even delicious. The mind races, the glands respond with a certain "oomph", and I discovered that lies have their charms. Sort of like sex, sort of like drugs.

As for me, I was in denial at that time that I was "caught". No one knew but me about my secret meditations, my hidden "insights".

God almost killed me to get my attention. I ended up flat on my back in a hospital within a few hours of death with a blood infection that had overrun my whole body. The funny thing was that I felt fine, and I was a little irritated over all the fuss. The punishment fit the crime, no?

After this gracious miracle, I came to take more seriously the "bear trap" of false doctrine. It is not to be toyed with, played with, or entertained. It is very like lust--if not stopped immediately it will have its way. And its way is death, to be sure.

What I have learned from this is valuable. I can smell the delicious scent of demonic doctrine most vividly. It is like an ex-user catching a whiff of marijuana in a crowd. The tug you feel is part of the discernment. When you sense that racy feeling of "slipping into it", you catch yourself with a resounding NO! and pull out of the spell, and know what has almost "had" you.

I know of at least one other person that shares this sensitivity. I have seen him visibly recoil at false statements when said (even by me), as if breaking out of some spell. And no one else had noticed. This brother (also Jewish) was involved with the Krishnas just before I met him. Once delivered, he retained his sense of smell.

So false doctrine is like crack-cocaine--better left untried than to have to recover from. Praise God that so many have been shielded from the reality of this temptation, even though this often leads to cockiness.

God has truly "not lead" most of his children "into temptation", and those who have fallen he has "delivered from evil". But I suspect this will change in the end, and many are unprepared. Satan will be given permission to "sift us like wheat", and many will fall when the Beast unleashes his lies about God in the last days.

These are sobering times.

Keep hold of the true faith, and be glad you know in whom you have believed. Or rather, let's not even attempt to wiggle out of the grip God has on us, and be glad God knows us!






Acts 17:11 Bible Studies Reflections and Snippets
Dean & Laura VanDruff Home Page

http://www.acts17-11.com/snip_fdoctrine.html