How Truth Gets Twisted
"See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ." — Colossians 2:8
How does false teaching take root?
In the early church, their focus was on the blood of Christ shed for the forgiveness of sins to cover them. Their focus was not to believe nor to teach that you must take communion in order to have the full forgiveness of God. Likewise, they did not believe that you needed to be baptized in order to make sure you go to heaven.
But as the church began to progress, the early church fathers began to write and institutionalize the concept of identifying the Eucharist with the actual body and blood of Christ. It became more acceptable as time went on, and it became ingrained in the early church around the Fourth and Fifth Centuries.
Do you see what happened? Error didn't storm in overnight. It crept in gradually. Someone wrote something that sounded spiritual. Then someone else built on it. Then it became tradition. Then it became doctrine. Then it became unquestionable.
Within a few centuries, the church was teaching something completely different from what the apostles taught. They added requirements to the Gospel. They made rituals necessary for salvation. They twisted simple truth into complex tradition.
This is how false teaching always works. It doesn't announce itself as heresy. It comes disguised as deeper understanding, as spiritual insight, as tradition worth preserving.
Things changed in the 1500s when one of the church reformers, Zwingli, began to say, "No, no, no, this is only symbolic. These elements are important, but they are just symbolic of what Jesus was saying to us."
Reformation happens when someone is brave enough to say, "Wait—what does Scripture actually teach?" Not "What have we always done?" Not "What do the church fathers say?" What does the Bible say?
This is why you must always go back to Scripture. Tradition can be helpful, but it's not authoritative. Church history can be informative, but it's not infallible. Only God's Word is truth.
Test everything against Scripture. Don't accept teaching just because it's old or popular or widespread. Ask, "Does this align with the Word of God?"
Error creeps in when we stop asking that question. Truth stands strong when we keep asking it.
How does false teaching take root?
In the early church, their focus was on the blood of Christ shed for the forgiveness of sins to cover them. Their focus was not to believe nor to teach that you must take communion in order to have the full forgiveness of God. Likewise, they did not believe that you needed to be baptized in order to make sure you go to heaven.
But as the church began to progress, the early church fathers began to write and institutionalize the concept of identifying the Eucharist with the actual body and blood of Christ. It became more acceptable as time went on, and it became ingrained in the early church around the Fourth and Fifth Centuries.
Do you see what happened? Error didn't storm in overnight. It crept in gradually. Someone wrote something that sounded spiritual. Then someone else built on it. Then it became tradition. Then it became doctrine. Then it became unquestionable.
Within a few centuries, the church was teaching something completely different from what the apostles taught. They added requirements to the Gospel. They made rituals necessary for salvation. They twisted simple truth into complex tradition.
This is how false teaching always works. It doesn't announce itself as heresy. It comes disguised as deeper understanding, as spiritual insight, as tradition worth preserving.
Things changed in the 1500s when one of the church reformers, Zwingli, began to say, "No, no, no, this is only symbolic. These elements are important, but they are just symbolic of what Jesus was saying to us."
Reformation happens when someone is brave enough to say, "Wait—what does Scripture actually teach?" Not "What have we always done?" Not "What do the church fathers say?" What does the Bible say?
This is why you must always go back to Scripture. Tradition can be helpful, but it's not authoritative. Church history can be informative, but it's not infallible. Only God's Word is truth.
Test everything against Scripture. Don't accept teaching just because it's old or popular or widespread. Ask, "Does this align with the Word of God?"
Error creeps in when we stop asking that question. Truth stands strong when we keep asking it.
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4 Comments
I have a Catholic friend who knowing my deep faith ask me a question ,do we need to confess our sins to the Priest to receive absolution? I answered her saying the only Inter escort needed is Jesus Christ himself.I recalled how scriptures tell us to go into our closet to pray to the Lord .I kept it simple for her & told her look to the Bible for answers ,the Bible is the word of God.I am getting her a bible that will explain the Scripture meaning to help.her understand without criticizing the religion she's been under since childhood.
That was an excellent answer MaryAnn. The Lord has allowed her to see and probably experience a peace in you and so she was prompted / felt comfortable to ask you. GREAT ! BLESS THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, my Lord . ♥️
As a lifelong catholic now conservative Presbyterian but more importantly a born again Christian who has given his life to Christ, let me state that there are no bibles in Catholic Churches because they want to spoon feed you and be able to twist beliefs into rules Jesus never required.
nMass was in Latin until the 60’s. Whose sole was that hour saving? The church led people to believe that attendance and lots of tithing was the ticket to heaven. Shameful not to always point to Jesus for salvation. Their confession of sins is not biblical. There is no true repentance other than to say 5 Hail Mary’s and 10 our Father prayer. And like the pharisees who flaunt their robes and seek to be seated at places of honor, these men too will be punished most severely.
nCatholicism gets you to Chritianity. You must take to the bible, New Testament especially, to get to the next step which is learning the true message of the gospel (good news) and the to the final step of deciding to give your life to Christ. The rest is fun!
We have a lady in my church that will say,we never did it that way. She keeps assigning ministries to people when I am not sure if that's what God wants them to be doing. And she wants things done her way. I talk to God first and some things don't seem to fit right. I have a catholic friend that thinks that if you go to church that you must be religious. She doesn't understand that she needs a relationship with Jesus.